What You Already Know Pt 3: Chimera: Ship Version
by MaureenT
Summary: Dreams of his past with Sarah have been plaguing Daniel, dreams that may ultimately lead to a confrontation that could rob him of more than his life. Meanwhile, Sam has a new boyfriend, but is he the right man for her? S & D Romance. COMPLETE!
1. Chapter 1

**What You Already Know Part 3: Chimera (Ship Version)**

**Author:** MaureenT  
**Rating:** T  
**Categories:** Action/Adventure, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Romance  
**Content Warning:** Mild Profanity, Violence, Adult Themes, Sexual Situations  
**Spoilers:** Enigma, Need, The Fifth Race, Serpent's Song, A Hundred Days, The Other Side, Scorched Earth, The Curse, The Fifth Man, Summit, Last Stand, Meridian, Unnatural Selection, Metamorphosis, Prophecy, Homecoming, Orpheus, Grace, Fallout, Chimera

**Author's Notes:** **This story contains a Daniel/Sam romance.** If that's not to your liking, there is Gen version of the story. This is the third story in a 7-part AU series covering many of the events of the latter half of the 7th season and beyond. **It is strongly recommended that you read the previous fanfics in this series first.**

**Notice for those who have been reading the Gen version: **Because the Ship version of this fic is nearly twice as long as the Gen version, I will not begin posting the Gen version until after the first six chapters of the Ship version have been posted.

* * *

CHAPTER ONE

Jonas Quinn walked slowly through the complex that, for the most exciting year of his life, was his home, his place of work, and his refuge from a world and a people who had branded him a traitor. He would be going back to that world in about an hour, and he had to admit that he wasn't completely happy about it. When he left the SGC to begin his new job on Kelowna as a diplomat, he had believed it was what he wanted. He had missed his home, family and friends. But now, after months of dealing with the never-ending squabbling, paranoia and mud-slinging that went on between the leaders of his planet, Jonas was wishing that he'd stayed with the SGC. At least for right now, the squabbling had stopped. Jonas didn't know what Jack had said to them, but, whatever it was, it had significantly altered the attitudes of First Minister Dreylock, Vin Eremal and Lucia Tarthus.

As Jonas passed the office that used to be his and was now, once again, Daniel Jackson's, he glanced inside. What he saw made him freeze in his tracks, mouth dropping open. One of the heavy bookcases in the room was sliding across the floor, seemingly under its own power. Jonas stepped closer to the door and saw Daniel standing before the bookcase, his attention focused on it.

"Daniel?"

The archeologist started violently. At the same time, the bookcase jumped up off the floor an inch or two, books toppling off the shelves, then came back down, tilting backwards.

"Crap!" Daniel swore. Jonas then watched as the falling bookcase halted in place and slowly straightened itself. Daniel turned to the Kelownan with an embarrassed smile. "Hey, Jonas."

"Uhhhh . . . hi." Jonas dragged his eyes from the bookcase. "Daniel, what's going on?"

Daniel glanced at the bookcase sheepishly. "Oh, um, yeah. I guess I need to explain a few things, huh."

"I'd say so."

"Come on in and take a seat."

Jonas did so, watching as Daniel gathered up the books that had fallen and placed them on his worktable. The archeologist then settled in the chair behind his desk.

"Daniel, were you . . . moving that bookcase?" the Kelownan asked.

Daniel looked straight at him. "Yes."

"How?"

"Oh, that's a very long story. Do you have the time?"

"Well, since I definitely don't want to leave until I've heard it, I'll make the time."

Daniel gave him a short nod. Then he proceeded to tell Jonas a story that left the Kelownan reeling in shock. Sitting before him was a man who could now blow up an Al'Kesh and lift a Stargate with the power of his mind. It was unbelievable. And, on top of that, Daniel had gained the power to see the future, something with which Jonas had personal experience.

"Needless to say, it's all been a bit overwhelming," Daniel concluded.

Jonas laughed. "I bet." He glanced at the bookcase. "So, what was up with that?"

"Oh, um, something fell behind it, and I couldn't get the thing out. I didn't want to bother anyone about it, so. . . ." Daniel waved his hand.

"So, you decided to move it yourself."

"Yes. Whatever you do, don't tell Janet. She'll skin me alive. I'm not supposed to use my abilities except when absolutely necessary."

Jonas smiled. "I won't tell a soul. Do you get a headache from moving something like that?"

"No, it's not nearly heavy enough to cause a problem. Now, lifting a Stargate is another matter entirely."

"I can imagine so." Jonas paused. "So, you can see the future."

"On occasion."

"You've seen things several weeks before they happened?"

"The vision I had of Sam's death came a little over two weeks before the event took place."

"None of my visions were of things that took place more than a few hours in the future."

Daniel fell silent. "How did you react to having that kind of power?"

"Well, I was shocked at first, but then I was kind of happy about it."

Daniel's expression showed his surprise. "You were?"

"Yes. I thought that it would be a tremendous help to the SGC. I was thinking about how it could be used to help defeat the Goa'uld." Jonas studied Daniel's expression. "What about you? Are you happy about these powers?"

"No," Daniel answered.

"Why not?"

"Because it's too much. Because the thought that I could kill dozens, perhaps even hundreds of people just by willing it is absolutely horrifying. Because I'm afraid that. . . ." Daniel paused. "Well, there are lots of reasons."

Jonas pondered Daniel's words. "I didn't consider that. I suppose that, if I was in your shoes, I might feel the same, although I guess it would all depend."

"On what?"

"On whether or not I thought it was worth it. I mean, let's face it, Daniel. This power could be of tremendous use against the Goa'uld. When I developed the ability to see the future, I didn't want to lose it even though I was risking my life by not letting Doctor Fraiser operate right away. I thought it was worth the risk because of the help I could give the SGC."

Daniel thought about that. "That is a good point, and, if it was only my life that was threatened by this, I'd probably look at it that way. But this isn't about the danger to me."

"You're worried that you might hurt someone by accident?"

"Yeah. The very first time I used these abilities on a mission, I accidentally killed six Jaffa. Since then, I've learned how to control them better, but . . . I had a little accident a while back, which made it all too clear that, though I may _think_ I have complete control, it's really just an illusion. Another accident could happen, and, next time, someone could get hurt or even killed."

Jonas thought about what Daniel was saying, and it made him realize something. If he was the one who had those abilities, he'd probably be thrilled, not because he'd delight in the power itself, but because of all the things he could do to help the SGC and fight the Goa'uld. Yes, he would be worried about accidentally hurting someone, but it would be overridden by his eagerness to use the power for good. But Daniel was different. Throughout all the years that he'd been with the SGC, the thing that mattered most to him was that the innocent be protected from harm. Jonas had seen that many times while reading past mission reports, like when Daniel risked his job and perhaps even a jail sentence to help the Tollans escape even though their technology could have been used to help fight the Goa'uld. He did it again when he returned to Shyla's planet to help the miners after his horrifying experience with sarcophagus addition. There was the time that he went up against Jack and everyone else by arguing against the trade that the SGC wanted to make with the Eurondans because he was concerned about who was on the other side of the war. And, just a few months later, he risked his life to save the Gadmeer. And Jonas would never forget the sacrifice the archeologist made for the people of Kelowna.

Now, Daniel had these incredible abilities that could be used as a powerful weapon against the Goa'uld, but the thing that was foremost in his mind was the innocent people who could accidentally be hurt by them.

This was one of the ways in which Jonas could not take Daniel's place when he had the man's position on SG-1. Daniel was a crusader for what was morally right, an advocate for all those who needed help or who could be harmed by the SGC's actions. If he had been on the team when they tangled with the human-form Replicators, he would never have allowed Fifth to be betrayed like that. Or, at the very least, he'd have fought Jack tooth and nail over it.

Looking at Daniel, the man who was both his predecessor and his successor, Jonas knew that it was time to talk about some things, stuff that he needed to say.

Jonas got to his feet, too restless now to remain seated. He wandered over to the worktable and picked up one of the books. Staring down at it, he began. "When I refused to let Doctor Fraiser remove the mass in my brain, she guessed that it was because I felt like I still needed to prove myself and my value to the program. She was partially right." Jonas' eyes met Daniel's. "For that whole year that I was here, I lived in your shadow. You were this . . . incredible legend at the SGC, the man who opened the Stargate, who was instrumental in saving not only Earth, but many other cultures and peoples. You were the guy whose brilliance was respected by virtually every scientist on base, whose courage, determination and willingness to sacrifice himself impressed even the Marines, and whose code of ethics was so strong that he'd fight anyone and everyone for what was right."

"Jonas. . . ." Daniel began.

"No. Please let me finish. In addition to that, you were the man his former teammates cared about so much that, for the entire year I was working with them, I never stopped sensing the hole that your loss made in their lives. They all loved you, and I knew that I would never mean the same thing to them."

Daniel was staring at the desktop, clearly upset.

"And I was the one responsible for them losing you," Jonas stated softly.

Daniel's head shot up. "No, Jonas. It wasn't your fault. You weren't the one who ordered that Naquadria bomb to be built."

"No, I wasn't, but I _was_ the one who cowardly stood by and did nothing as you sacrificed your life for a planet that wasn't even yours."

"You were a scientist and a political advisor. You weren't trained to act under extreme, life-threatening situations."

Jonas shook his head. "That's no excuse, Daniel. It should have been me who went through that window and disabled the bomb, and I lived a year with that guilt as a daily part of my life."

Daniel's eyes returned to his desk, not knowing what to say.

"What you said to me on Anubis' ship was right," Jonas continued. "I joined SG-1 because I felt guilty about what happened to you, and I thought that I could make up for it by finishing your work. And that's what I attempted to do. I tried to atone for what I'd done, to continue what you started and make myself as useful as I possibly could. But I couldn't replace you, Daniel, because I'm not you. You're too . . . unique, irreplaceable. I could not be everything that you are, and I could not give to the SGC all the things that you did. That was especially true in regards to Colonel O'Neill, Sam and Teal'c. When we found you alive and human again on Vis Uban, I was so relieved. It was like this huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders. From that moment, I knew that my position on SG-1 would be coming to an end, that I had been only acting as a . . . a placeholder for you."

Daniel looked up at him. "Do you regret leaving?"

"Yes, sometimes. I miss going through the Stargate."

Daniel smiled faintly. "Well, considering what you have to deal with back on Kelowna, I'm not surprised. I think I'd take life-threatening danger over one of those council meetings any day of the week."

Jonas smiled. "You're right there. Although, whatever it is that Colonel O'Neill said to them, it's made them a little bit more cooperative."

"Yeah. Let's hope it lasts." Daniel got to his feet and walked up to the Kelownan. "Jonas, I want you to know that I never blamed you for what happened. It was my choice to do what I did, and, if I had to do it all over again, I'd make the same decision."

Jonas held out his hand to Daniel, who shook it firmly. "Goodbye, Daniel. I hope that everything works out well for you."

"You, too, Jonas. And if you ever decide to come back to the SGC, I'm sure that there will be a place for you."

"Thanks."

Jonas walked out of the office with a smile on his face, happy that he'd unburdened his soul to the man to whom he would always owe a debt.

* * *

Daniel closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead tiredly. He hadn't gotten a very restful sleep last night, odd dreams about Sarah plaguing him all night. The dreams had been about when he first met her, but, strangely, he had looked like he did now, not the way he did all those years ago. His hair, his face, everything was present day. Sarah, too, looked around the age she did when Daniel saw her last, not the much younger woman she was when he first got to know her.

Daniel poured himself another cup of coffee and returned to his seat, glad that there was nothing big going on right now. Since the whole incident with Kelowna, correction, _Langara_, things had been pretty quiet. He had welcomed the days of peace and quiet. After everything that had been happening in his life, a bit of tranquility was just what he needed. He didn't fool himself into thinking it would last long, however. It never did.

Daniel was right in the middle of a huge yawn when Sam poked her head in.

"Ooh, looks like someone didn't get much sleep last night," she said with a smile.

"Not for lack of trying. I went to bed early enough. I've been going home every night for the past few days."

Sam came into the room. "So, what's the problem."

"Dreams."

Sam looked at him more closely. "Dreams?"

"No, not those kinds of dreams. There is nothing prophetic about these. Just the opposite, in fact. They're about something that happened in the past, about Sarah, when I was working with her back in Chicago, before the Stargate Program."

"Oh."

"But it was kind of weird."

"How so?"

"Things were all mixed up," Daniel replied. "For one thing, I looked like I do now rather than the way I did back then."

"Well, no offense, Daniel, but it's not like you don't have some issues to work out regarding her."

"Oh, yeah. I can definitely say that."

"Maybe you should talk to someone."

Daniel smiled. "I thought I was."

Sam returned the smile.

"But enough about me," Daniel said. "Tell me what's been making you so pleased these past couple of weeks or so."

"Pleased?" Sam repeated innocently.

"Yes, pleased. I've been noticing a lot more smiles lately, and you seem more cheerful."

Sam looked a bit chagrined. "I didn't realize that I'd been so transparent."

"Only to those who know you. So, what's up? I'd almost think that you got yourself a boyfriend."

Sam's smile told him that he'd just hit the mark. Sam had a boyfriend? Daniel felt something twist painfully in his chest. "You have a boyfriend?" he asked, keeping the emotion out of his voice.

"Yes, I guess I do. His name is Pete. He's a Denver cop. I met him through my brother a few days before that whole business with Kelowna got started. He's working on a case here in town right now, and we've gone on several dates. It's been great. He's a nice guy, funny, smart, fun to be with."

The pain in Daniel's chest grew steadily worse with every word Sam spoke. It took all of his self-control to keep his voice even as he said, "That's great, Sam."

"Yeah, I'd almost forgotten what it was like to actually date somebody, it's been so long. You'll have to meet him someday. I'm sure you'll like him."

"Yeah, uh . . . sure. Um, well, I . . . I need to get back to work. I haven't gotten much accomplished what with being so tired."

"Sure, okay." Sam searched his face, which was now turned away from hers. "Daniel, are you all right?"

Daniel forced a smile to his lips. "Yes, I'm fine." He got up and walked her to the door. "See you later, Sam."

"Bye."

Daniel made it back to his desk and sank into the chair. God, this hurt. Why was it hurting? Okay, so Sam had a boyfriend. He should be happy for her, delighted that she'd found someone that she liked in that way. It shouldn't feel like somebody had just sliced open his heart and poured acid into it. It shouldn't feel like something inside him had just died. If he didn't know better, he'd think that. . . .

Daniel's thoughts came to a jarring halt. No. It wasn't that. It _couldn't_ be that. This was _Sam_, his teammate and best friend, the woman he had worked side by side with for most of the last seven years. He _couldn't_ be falling in love with her. It just wasn't possible.

_'Then why does the thought of her being with another man hurt so much?'_ his inner voice asked him.

Daniel dropped his head into his hands. This couldn't be happening. Life could not be so cruel as to finally let him feel love again only to have it be for someone he could never hope to be with like that. But Daniel knew that there was no logic in that thought. Time and time again, life had kicked him in the teeth when it came to women. Why not once more?

"Hey, Daniel. What. . . . Daniel, what's wrong?"

Daniel lifted his head to look at Jack, who had just entered the room. He quickly straightened in his chair and adopted an emotionless mask.

"Nothing. Nothing's wrong."

"Uh huh. Then why did you look like someone just gutted you?"

"It's nothing," Daniel insisted. "So, what did you want?"

Jack kept staring at Daniel for several long, uncomfortable seconds before answering. "I wanted to know what time you were planning on coming over tonight."

"Oh. Um, I'm going to pass tonight, Jack. I didn't sleep very well last night, so I'm just going to go to bed early."

"Is this something I need to know about?"

"No, I just had a restless night, lots of dreams. _Ordinary_ dreams. No visions of the future."

"Well, that's good. I think we've all had enough of those for a while. So . . . you're sure that everything is okay?"

"Yes, Jack. Go be someone else's mother hen."

"Nobody else needs me to be their mother hen."

"So, I'm the only lucky one?" Daniel asked sarcastically.

"Yep."

"Then consider yourself chickless, Jack. This one's flying the coop."

A slight smile curved the colonel's lips. "See you later, Daniel."

Once Jack had left, Daniel dropped the calm mask he'd been wearing. He turned to the computer monitor and stared at the screensaver. Okay, he had to get past this. He needed to just forget about these feelings and not let them bother him so much. He was in love with Sam, and she had a boyfriend. He had to accept that and move on. When Sha're died, he managed to get past the grief and continue with his life. He could do it again. No problem. Piece of cake.

Daniel's head sunk back into his hands. Why wasn't he listening to himself?

Knowing that he wasn't going to be getting any work done, Daniel went to the gym. Not paying any attention to how much weight was on the barbell, Daniel reclined on the bench and grabbed hold of the bar. When he began to lift, some part of his mind registered that the barbell was extremely heavy, but he paid no attention to it. He just tried harder. He succeeded in lifting the bar off the rack and began a set of bench presses. After a while, he decided that it wasn't enough weight and slammed on two fifteen-pounders, still not paying attention to what he was doing. Five more reps and he was adding yet another thirty pounds. When ten more reps still didn't have him breaking out in a sweat, he sat up in frustration. And that's when he noticed something. Every person in the gym was gaping at him with open-mouthed surprise. Not understanding the reason, Daniel glanced at the barbell – and nearly fell off the bench. Okay, that was . . . not possible.

The part of Daniel's brain that was not reeling in shock deduced that Teal'c must have been the last person to use the barbell and had not removed the additional weight he usually put on it . . . and Daniel had just added an additional sixty pounds.

Daniel tried to figure out how on Earth he had managed to lift that much weight. He could not be that strong . . . not _physically_, that is. There could be only one explanation. He had just unwittingly supplemented his physical strength with his psychic abilities. That realization sent Daniel's mind spinning again. What if he was in a hand-to-hand combat workout with someone and this happened again?

Suddenly deciding that working out in the gym was not such a good idea after all, Daniel hurried to the locker room, trying to ignore the way that everyone was still staring at him. After changing back into his BDUs, he returned to his office, determined to get some work done. His determination lasted all of an hour before thoughts of Sam and how he felt about her crept back into his mind.

Lunchtime came and went before Daniel even realized it. He had been intending to go to Sam's lab after lunch to see the new project she was working on, but the thought of being with her right now was simply too painful. Not feeling the least bit hungry, he continued working, or at least attempting to, wondering how he was going to make it through the days to come.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

Jack rode the elevator up. He'd just come from lunch and had noticed the lack of both Daniel's and Sam's presence in the commissary. He knew that his 2IC was in the midst of some project and probably wouldn't be surfacing from her lab for a while. As for Daniel, it wasn't unusual for him to miss lunch when he was caught up in some translation, but Jack had a feeling it was something else this time. He couldn't get out of his mind the expression of anguish that had been on his friend's face this morning. He had hoped that Daniel would tell him what the problem was, but the archeologist made it pretty clear that he was not in the mood to talk.

The elevator stopped at the nineteenth floor, and the doors opened to reveal Sam waiting there.

"Colonel," she greeted.

"Carter."

Sam got on the elevator. As the doors close, she started humming. Surprised, Jack looked at her.

"Humming?"

"I am?" Sam asked in surprise.

"You are."

"Sorry."

Jack looked at her more closely. Could it be?

"Hot date tonight, Carter?"

The expression that passed over Sam's face was one of both shock and embarrassment. "Um. . . ."

"Anybody I know?" Jack asked, hoping that she'd say yes and name a certain archeologist.

"Uh, no, sir. His name's Pete Shanahan. He's a cop."

Oh, crap. This was not good. "Speeding again, are we?"

"He's from Denver. He's a friend of my brother's."

"A setup?" Maybe this wasn't serious. If her brother fixed them up, she might just be seeing the guy to make Mark happy.

"Pathetic, I know."

"So, how long has this been going on?"

"Um, I met him about three weeks ago. We've been on several dates, but it's not serious or anything, at least not yet."

"And yet it is . . . hum-worthy."

Sam was looking extremely uncomfortable.

"So, I should imagine that Daniel knows all about this," Jack remarked. Sam looked at him in puzzlement. "I mean, you guys talk about things, right?" he hastily added.

"I told him about Pete this morning."

Damn. This is _really_ not good. Jack now knew what was causing Daniel's distress.

Just then, the elevator doors opened on the floor Jack wanted. He stepped out.

"Well . . . have a good time on your date, Carter."

"Thank you, sir."

Jack stood at the elevator for a while after the doors closed, then headed toward where he had been intending to go. He made it about halfway before turning around and going back. He took the elevator down to the eighteenth floor and went straight to Daniel's office. The archeologist was standing before his worktable, staring with unseeing eyes at an artifact, a sad look on his face. The fact that Daniel had apparently not sensed Jack's approach told the colonel how deeply mired in his thoughts the man must be.

Not wanting to startle him, Jack quietly entered the office. He was nearly to the table before Daniel became aware of his presence. Jack watched as the mask fell back into place over Daniel's features.

"Oh, um . . . I didn't notice you," Daniel said, putting the artifact down. "Sorry."

Jack perched on the edge of the table. "I bumped into Carter on the elevator."

Daniel's gaze skittered away from Jack's. "Did you?"

"Yes. She told me about this new boyfriend of hers."

"Um . . . yeah. Pete."

Jack stared at Daniel, who was being uncharacteristically fidgety. "How long have you known?" he asked quietly.

Daniel looked at him. "Known what? About Pete?"

"No. How long have you known that you're in love with Sam?"

"W-what? I-I-I'm not. . . ." Daniel stammered, his voice tripping to a halt. He looked away.

"Daniel, I may not be as smart as you, but I know enough to recognize what's going on. I've seen you when you're in love, and it's the same thing that I've seen more than once lately when you look at Carter. And, now, you look like your world is caving in, which coincides with you finding out that she has a boyfriend. So, I ask again. How long have you known?"

Daniel gave a soft, weary sigh. "About . . ." he looked at his watch, "five hours and . . . twenty-two minutes."

Jack's eyebrows rose. "What? You mean that you just figured it out?"

"Yeah, around a minute after Sam told me that she has a boyfriend."

Jack heard the pain in the younger man's voice. He stepped up to Daniel and gently took hold of his friend's shoulder. "Daniel, I'm sorry."

Daniel shook his head. "There's nothing for _you_ to be sorry about. This is just another case of the universe having fun at my expense." He made a face and ducked his head. "God, that sounded so self-pitying."

"I've never been one who has much patience for self-pity, but if there's anyone who's got a right to feel it, it's definitely you."

"Gee, thanks, Jack. That makes me feel so much better," Daniel said, his sarcasm edged with anguish. He lifted his eyes to meet the older man's. "When is it going to end, Jack? When is my life going to stop resembling a cross between a bad science fiction novel and a Shakespearian tragedy?" He abruptly turned and walked away a few steps. "Boy, I really have got this pity party going, haven't I. Just . . . just forget I said that. I'll be all right. Everything will be all right. I'll survive." He smiled sadly. "I always do."

Jack covered the distance between them. "You shouldn't have to just survive, Daniel. You deserve a lot more than that. Does Carter know how you feel? I'm guessing that she doesn't."

"No, and she's not going to either. She doesn't feel the same, and I am not going to put a strain on our friendship by telling her."

"What if you're wrong?"

Daniel turned to him. "Wrong?"

"What if she _does_ feel the same way about you?"

Daniel let out a short, humorless laugh. "Jack, she's got a boyfriend. Remember?"

"Yes, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything."

Daniel was starting to get angry. "Um, well, excuse me, Jack, but when I dated a girl for as long as Sam's been dating Pete, I certainly didn't do it just for the hell of it. If I didn't feel anything after the first couple of dates, I didn't take it any further. I should think that the same would be true for Sam."

"Oh, I have no doubt that she's attracted to him, but that doesn't mean that she's in love with him, and it doesn't mean that she's _not_ in love with you."

"If I was in love with someone, I wouldn't date somebody else."

"Not even if you thought that you could never be with the person you love?"

Daniel turned away again. "No," he said in a low, pain-filled voice. "I'll never date someone else."

_'Oh, Daniel,'_ Jack silently sighed, feeling so sad for his friend. Daniel was right. It seemed like he had been designated as the universe's whipping boy, and someone had just picked up the cat o' nine tails to get in a few more lashes.

Jack moved to stand before his friend. "Daniel, I'm just saying that you shouldn't give up hope."

Daniel shook his head. "Even if you're right, Jack, what about SG-1?"

"You're a civilian, so the rules are different. There are no regulations forbidding you and Carter to date, or even get married, for that matter. I knew a major who had a married couple working under him on the same team. As long as Carter isn't the team leader, it would be all right, though I would have to evaluate your performance on missions and make sure that your personal lives weren't affecting your ability to work together and to do what had to be done."

Daniel looked into Jack's eyes. "And what about you?"

"Well, as your C.O., I have a few concerns, but I think it could work out. As your friend and Carter's, I _know_ it could."

"No, Jack, that's not what I meant," he said gently.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Daniel's brilliant blue eyes pierced right into him. "Yes, Jack, you do."

Jack turned away and went over to the worktable, his hands playing with the artifact Daniel had been holding earlier.

"Did you think that I didn't know?" Daniel asked.

Jack put the artifact down. "I kind of hoped you didn't. How did you find out? The Zatarc test?"

"What? What about the Zatarc test?"

"I'm guessing that answers _that_ question."

Daniel walked up to his friend. "I know, Jack, because I know _you_. You might have thought that you were hiding it from other people, but you couldn't hide it from me. I also know that Sam has feelings for you, or at least she used to. I just never said anything since I knew that you couldn't be together because of regulations, and I didn't want to make either of you feel worse by bringing up the subject. After I descended and my memories came back to me, I watched you guys, and it seemed that what I'd seen before wasn't there so much anymore, especially with you. I figured that maybe you got things straightened out during that year I was gone."

"Well, we didn't talk about it, if that's what you think. We've never talked about it. I just gradually came to the conclusion that, even if we could be together, it wouldn't work out. We're not compatible. As the years went by, my feelings for her just sort of faded." Jack looked at Daniel. "Your . . . 'death' helped that along quite a bit."

Daniel blinked in surprise. "Why?"

"Because, afterwards, I put a lid on my feelings, Daniel, just like I did after Charlie died. Oh, it wasn't nearly that bad, and I was a whole lot better at pretending that everything was fine, but I had let myself care too much about you, and losing you taught me yet again the lesson that I needed to keep myself from caring so much because it hurts too much when you lose someone who . . . who means a lot to you."

Daniel searched Jack's eyes. "Jack, I. . . ."

"No, it's okay, Daniel. I've learned a lot since then, again thanks to you. I've realized that I have to let myself care about people, even if there's a chance that I'll lose them, because life is too damn short to keep yourself locked away from feelings." He gave Daniel a little smile. "So, to answer your question, I'm okay with you and Carter being together. You'd make her happy, and I think that she'd make you happy. And when my team is happy, I'm happy." Jack's expression firmed. "Don't give up, Daniel. If you love someone, and there is even a remote chance that you can be together, you have to fight for it. Take that from someone who knows. After Charlie died, I stopped fighting. I let my marriage with Sara fall apart, and I've regretted it ever since. You understand?"

A slight nod was all the answer Jack got and probably all he would get for now. It was time to change the subject.

Jack leaned against the table and crossed his arms over his chest. "Okay, now that we've got that settled, I think it's time that we talk about something else."

"What's that?"

"Oh, the fact that you went to the gym and made Teal'c look like a ninety-eight-pound weakling."

Daniel cursed the base grapevine under his breath.

"Would you like to explain how you did that?" Jack asked.

"I was upset, and I wasn't paying any attention to what I was doing. I didn't even notice how much weight was on the barbell."

"Not even when you added sixty more pounds?"

"No. My mind was on . . . other things. The only thing I can figure out is that my abilities kicked in and . . . gave a helping hand. I'm certainly not that strong physically."

"Well, regardless, you've got the Marines in awe of you now," Jack told him. "The last I heard, they were arguing about who would win in a fight between you and Teal'c. Some figured that Teal'c's experience would win out, while others thought that your superior strength would give you the upper hand. Me personally, I think that, if you've found a way to use your abilities to increase your strength in a fight, Teal'c wouldn't stand a snowball's chance in hell. He may be a big son of a gun, but he weighs a _whole_ lot less than a Stargate."

"Which is why I can never get into a workout with him or anyone else again. I can't take the chance that I'll hurt someone."

"Daniel, you said that you were distracted, that you weren't paying attention to what you were doing. I bet that, if you were focused on the workout, it wouldn't happen, not unless you wanted it to."

"Nevertheless, I don't think it's worth the risk," Daniel stated firmly.

"Well, as your C.O., I need to remind you that you're required to pass various fitness exams each year, including proficiency in hand-to-hand combat."

"No, I'm not, Jack, and you know it. I'm a civilian. I'm not required to pass any fitness exams except the medical ones performed by Janet. I went through those other exams because it made you happy and kept you off my back. And I learned how to fight because . . . because it was a way to deal with Sha're and everything else."

Jack sighed loudly. "Yeah, okay, so you don't have to take them. But I don't want you losing your edge, Daniel. You never know when you may be forced to get into a fight with someone. Now, I bet that Teal'c would be willing to work out with you despite this thing that happened."

"Jack—"

Jack's finger shot up. "Ah! That's my final word on the matter, Daniel."

The archeologist closed his mouth. Then he thought of something. "What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Would you be willing to work out with me considering what happened?"

"Uh . . . sure."

A faint smirk twisted the corners of Daniel's lips. "You don't sound all that certain, Jack."

Jack cleared his throat. "Sure I'm sure. Just say when, Daniel."

"Tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow. Say two o'clock?"

"Um . . . yeah, okay. Two it is."

"All right. See you then. And if you change your mind, let me know."

Jack glared at him. "I'm not going to change my mind, Daniel. You just prepare to get your ass kicked."

As Jack walked out of Daniel's office, the thought that ran through his mind was, _'I sure hope I've still got some Bengay in my locker.'_

* * *

By the time five o'clock came, Daniel was so sleepy that he decided to go on home. It wasn't like he was getting much work done anyway. Between his tiredness and thoughts about Sam, he'd been pretty useless today.

Daniel had just reached the men's locker room when Sam came out of the door to the women's locker room.

"Oh . . . um, hi, Sam," he said, suddenly feeling extremely uncomfortable.

"Hi, Daniel. I missed not seeing you this afternoon."

"You did?" Daniel asked, trying not to be too pleased that she had noticed his absence.

"Uh huh. Didn't you say that you were going to come over to my lab?"

"Um, yeah. Sorry. I got . . . caught up in some stuff. So, what is this thing you're working on?"

"It's a device that jams the frequencies the Goa'uld use in their communicators and their remote control devices, like for ring transporters. Right now, we're working on making it portable enough to take on missions."

"Wow. That sure would come in handy."

"That's what we figured. Just think about how great it would be if the next time some Goa'uld tries to escape using a ring platform, we could stop them."

"I can think of several times when that would have been a good thing."

"Exactly."

Daniel looked at the way Sam was dressed, seeing that she was in civilian clothing. "You're going home early."

"I've got a date with Pete tonight." She glanced at her watch. "In fact, I really need to get going."

"Have fun."

"I will. Bye."

Daniel watched Sam leave, then went into the locker room, trying to ignore the pain that had flared back up in his chest. For a short while, when he and Sam were talking about the device, he had almost been able to forget that he was in love with her. But then she mentioned the date with Pete, and it all came crashing back in on him. How was he going to handle it if Sam really got serious with this guy? Maybe it would be best to back away a bit, spend less time with Sam for a while. If he wasn't in her company, it wouldn't be so bad, right?

Daniel knew that he was being a coward, that he was ignoring Jack's advice to fight for Sam, but he had been hurt so many times because of women that he just didn't know if he could leave himself open to being hurt again. It would be better just to shut away that part of his heart for good.

Daniel changed into his civvies and headed for home, stopping to pick up some takeout on the way. He ate his solitary meal and watched a little TV, but gave up when he couldn't keep his attention on the program. Feeling tired again, he decided to go on to bed. He got dressed for bed and laid down on top of the covers. The weather had been unseasonably warm lately, so he'd taken to sleeping with no blankets.

Though his mind was filled with thoughts, it did not take long for Daniel's tiredness to drag him down into sleep.

* * *

Daniel bolted upright in bed, breathing heavily. He'd just had yet another dream about Sarah. It was as if his subconscious mind was replaying his entire relationship with her from the beginning. But something was wrong. Little things were different from the way it had really been, more than just his and Sarah's appearances. The portrayal of Sarah was off. In these dreams she was way too coy, and he sure didn't remember the real Sarah fawning over him quite so much.

And then there was something else, something that Daniel couldn't quite pin down. That sixth sense of his was talking to him, telling him that there was something going on, but Daniel didn't know what it was.

To top it all off, when he woke up just now, he could have sworn that there was someone in the room.

Though Daniel still felt exhausted, he decided to get up and do some things around the house for a while, then attempt to get some more sleep later. He just hoped that he wouldn't have any more dreams.


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE

If, a few months ago, anybody had told Jack that he was going to be nervous about a hand-to-hand combat workout with Daniel, he'd have called them nuts. But then, several months ago, Daniel hadn't lifted a barbell that would give Teal'c a hernia. Jack kept telling himself over and over again that the archeologist had not physically lifted that much weight, that his telekinetic abilities had done most of the work. He also kept telling himself that Daniel would _not_ be using that ability in today's workout. In fact, that was the whole point of this exercise, to prove to Daniel that he didn't have to worry about accidentally using his abilities during a workout. But Jack was still nervous. He couldn't back out, though, for two reasons. Reason number one was his pride. Reason number two was that, if he did, it would show Daniel that he wasn't certain that the archeologist could maintain control, and that would do a number on Daniel's self-confidence. No, he had to go through with this. He just hoped that his own confidence in his friend's control would not prove to be misplaced.

Jack got to the gym about fifteen minutes before he was supposed to meet Daniel there. Teal'c was with him. There were a few people working out on the weights. Jack had decided that it would be best if nobody witnessed this workout just in case something went wrong. That was the reason for Teal'c being here. He would keep everyone out.

One by one, Jack asked the other men to leave. Though they were curious, they did so without question. The last man had just departed when Daniel came in. He looked around in surprise.

"Where is everybody?" he asked. "And why is Teal'c standing outside the door like a nightclub bouncer?"

"I figured that you might not want an audience for this," Jack explained.

"Oh." Daniel looked at Jack closely. "We don't have to do this, you know."

"I know."

Daniel gave a short nod. "So, um . . . are we going to do anything different?"

"Nope, same as always."

The two men got into position and began their workout. Three times Jack tried to get Daniel onto the mat, and three times the younger man dodged away from him. After the fourth try, Jack stopped.

"Daniel, you're running away."

Daniel cast his eyes to the floor. "I know. I'm just. . . ."

"Stop worrying, will you? It'll be fine. Now, come on. Let's do this right."

Daniel drew in a deep breath. "Okay." He assumed a combat-ready stance. Concentrate. He had to concentrate. As long as he stayed focused, paid attention, he would not lose control of his abilities.

That thought in mind, Daniel let everything else fade out of his awareness until there was nothing but him and Jack. This was not the first time that Daniel had focused his attention so utterly on something. He'd learned the trick many years ago and had used it more than once in his work, particularly when attempting to decipher some linguistic puzzle. Daniel knew that some athletes could do something similar, referring to it as being "in the zone," but this was the first time that he'd used the technique during a physical activity.

His mind focused entirely on Jack, Daniel waited for the man to make his move. It came an instant later. Three seconds after that, Jack was lying flat on his back after having been neatly flipped by Daniel. Surprised but unhurt, Jack held out his hand and let Daniel help him off the floor. Saying nothing, the men faced off again.

It was Daniel who attacked the second time. Before Jack even realized that he was vulnerable, Daniel had slipped under his guard and pulled him down to the mat, locking him into an unbreakable grip. Again, Jack said nothing as he rolled away and stood, though he knew that something was going on. Daniel had never taken him down two times in a row. Looking at Daniel's expression, he knew that the man was also aware that this was not normal.

The third time, Jack took the initiative first. He managed to get hold of Daniel and had him down on the mat. But, at the last second, before Jack could complete his move, Daniel somehow broke his hold, grasped his arm and flipped him over onto his stomach. Planting his knee in Jack's back and holding the older man's arm twisted up behind him, he wrapped his free hand around Jack's throat and applied just enough pressure to make Jack stop attempting to get free. Knowing that he was beat, Jack ceased struggling. Daniel instantly released him.

As Jack got up onto his knees, he looked at Daniel. There was an expression on the younger man's face that was part confusion, part fear.

"Daniel? What's going on?" Jack asked him.

"I, uh . . . I don't know."

"Well something is going on because you have _never_ taken me down three times in the same workout, much less three times in a row."

"Don't you think I know that?" Daniel exclaimed. He got to his feet and walked over to where his towel was. Jack followed him.

"Daniel?" the colonel softly inquired.

"I don't know what it is, Jack," Daniel said quietly.

"Could it be that sixth sense thing?"

"Maybe. I guess. I just somehow knew what to do every time. It's like I was . . . 'reading' your body, sensing your weaknesses, how you were vulnerable. That last time, I knew that in the position you were in, your balance was off, and if I moved just so, I could get you off me. After that, I just used some techniques that you'd taught me to take you down."

Jack stared at him closely. "Anything else, Daniel? Because I gotta tell ya. If I didn't know better, I'd swear that you knew almost every move I was going to make before I ma. . . . Wait a minute. I _don't_ know better, do I?" Daniel's silence answered him. "You were predicting what I was going to do before I did it, weren't you."

"Maybe a little, just . . . just a second before."

"Which would make it pretty darn near impossible for me or anyone else you were fighting to get the upper hand. You can't beat a guy who knows what you're going to do before you do it."

Daniel's head dropped. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry? What for? Daniel, this is fantastic. I'll never have to worry about you being able to handle yourself in a fight again."

Daniel shook his head. "I don't think it would be this way in a real fight. I was worried about accidentally using my telekinetic abilities, and I figured that if I was completely focused on you and the workout, it was less likely to happen. I zoned everything else out. I was so focused on you that I wasn't even aware of my surroundings. In a real fight, it wouldn't be that way. There would be distractions, other concerns."

Jack nodded. "Yes, you're right about that." He made a sudden decision. "I think I need to explain something to you, Daniel, probably something I should have told you a long time ago. Have you ever wondered why, after all these years of being trained by both me and Teal'c, you rarely ever managed to beat me?"

"Because you're better than I am."

"Yes and no. I have more experience than you, but the one thing that keeps you from being better at hand-to-hand is that you don't want to fight. You don't have the heart for it. You lack the . . . killer instinct."

Daniel stared at the towel gripped in his hands.

"You've always preferred the peaceful way out of situations, Daniel, and there's nothing wrong with that. It's saved our lives and the lives of others more than once. But your reluctance to fight hinders your effectiveness in hand-to-hand. Deep down, you really don't want to learn how to hurt and kill with your hands. That's contrary to who you are. And, until that changes, which, quite frankly, I hope never happens, you will continue to fight with less skill than what you would be capable of if you had a different attitude." Jack smiled a little. "Of course, that's not counting what you just did." He clapped Daniel on the back. "Come on. I don't think there's anything else we need to prove here today."

* * *

Sam walked arm in arm with Pete down the pathway through the park. Last night's date had been fun, and, because she was on leave today, Pete had asked her out again. They had just seen one of her favorite old movies at the theater that played the classics every weekday afternoon.

"That was great," she said.

"Yeah, it was okay," Pete responded, not very enthusiastically. "I mean, the company was fine."

Sam looked at him. "Oh, come on. How can you not like Singing In The Rain?"

"I guess I've always been more of a Fred Astaire fan."

"It's a classic," Sam objected. She couldn't believe that Pete hadn't liked it.

"Whoa. Whoa there, lady. I believe the term 'classic' is reserved for the likes of The French Connection, Dirty Harry, Serpico."

Serpico? Dirty Harry? "Cop movies," she stated with a mental shake of her head.

"What's your point?" Pete asked, apparently clueless.

"Daniel liked it," Sam said, then wondered why in the world she had.

Pete stared at her narrowly. "Who's Daniel?"

"A friend of mine at work."

"And you took him to see that movie?"

"Well, no, I rented it for one of our evening get-togethers."

Pete came to a complete halt, staring at her. "Evening get-togethers? How many of these get-togethers do you have with this Daniel guy?"

Sam looked at him in surprise. "Pete, are you jealous?"

"Well, I don't know. Do I have reason to be? How much time do you spend with this guy?"

"I spend a lot of time with him. We work together. And, no, you have no reason to be jealous. He and I are just really good friends."

"Ah, so is he gay or something?"

"Pete! Why on Earth would you think that? No, he's not gay."

"Married?"

"Widower."

"Short, fat and hideously ugly?"

Sam laughed. "Tall, well-built and _definitely_ not ugly."

Pete was silent for a moment. "Okay, then I'm jealous."

Sam laughed again and resumed walking, Pete keeping pace with her.

"I still can't believe that you didn't like Singing in the Rain," Sam said. "It's romantic."

"Watching a man dance around in the rain with an umbrella?"

Sam felt a bit of irritation arise, along with a healthy dose of disappointment in Pete's attitude. "Just because there were no guns or car chases."

"Or nudity."

God, he was being such a guy! "Yeah, well your chances of that are slim to none now, buddy," Sam told him, not keeping the irritation out of her voice.

Apparently, that finally clued Pete in on the fact that she was not happy and that if he wanted to get anywhere with her, he needed to change tactics. "Have I ever told you what a good dancer I am?"

Normally, Sam might have been amused by Pete's response, but she was too busy thinking about something else. Daniel had _loved_ Singing in the Rain. Afterwards, they talked about the movie and how great a dancer Gene Kelly was. Sam found out that, years ago, Daniel saw another one of Kelly's movies, Brigadoon. They got into an in-depth discussion on the science fiction element of the story about a little village in Scotland that disappeared into the mist every night as the people slept, only to reappear a hundred years later. The two scientists had fun discussing it from the viewpoint of their respective fields of expertise, Sam theorizing how it could be scientifically possible given what they now knew and Daniel giving an anthropological viewpoint on a culture virtually untouched by time. It was a fun evening.

Comparing Pete's reaction to Daniel's made Sam truly realize how unlike Daniel was from a lot of other guys. Sam was certain that there were plenty of other men in the world who enjoyed movies like Singing in the Rain and Brigadoon, but how many of them would have had fun discussing one like she and Daniel did? Sam knew without a doubt that, if she started theorizing about the probabilities of a time traveling Scottish village with Pete, he'd change the subject . . . just like Jack.

That thought really startled Sam. Pete was nothing like the Colonel. Granted, like Jack, he apparently didn't have much interest in scientific discussions since every time that she started in on one, he changed the subject as quickly as he could, but _unlike_ Jack, he never cut her off or tuned her out.

So, okay, Pete wasn't like Daniel, who would usually listen to her scientific rambling and even throw out some thoughts and ideas of his own, but not every guy could be as brilliant and attentive as Daniel.

A voice penetrated through Sam's thoughts. "Earth to Major Carter. Come in Major Carter."

Startled, Sam turned to Pete. "What? Oh, I'm sorry. I guess I spaced off there for a second."

"You know, some guys would take offense if their date was to zone out like that in their company," Pete said with a smile, showing her that he wasn't mad. "So, were they good thoughts? Like perhaps of a romantic evening together at your place?"

"Nope. Sorry. Romance was not a factor in my thoughts."

"Darn! Well, you can't blame a guy for trying."

Sam and Pete walked the rest of the way to her house. When they arrived, Pete told her that he was wrapping up the case he was presently working on there in Colorado Springs and that he put in for a two-week vacation so that he could spend more time with her. Sam was pleased and flattered that he'd done that. The kiss they exchanged afterwards started getting a little more passionate than Sam was comfortable with, however, and she gently broke away. Pete, of course, was disappointed. She knew that he was eager to take their relationship further, but Sam was not ready for that. She wanted to go slow.

Even though it was only seven o'clock, Sam gave the excuse that it was getting late, and she had to get up very early. Unfortunately, this led to Pete subtly expressing his doubts regarding what she did at work. It was clear that he didn't believe the deep space radar telemetry cover story, probably partly due to the fact that Sam hated lying to him, and it showed. This was one of the biggest drawbacks of dating someone outside the program. No matter how much you might want to, you couldn't tell them the truth. Daniel had been lucky that he married someone from whom he didn't have to keep the secret. On the other hand, if he'd married someone here on Earth, chances are that she'd still be alive.

Wondering why Daniel was once again creeping into her mind, Sam said goodbye to Pete and went into her house.

* * *

Sam frowned at the monitor, trying to figure out where she'd made a mistake. Something wasn't right. Going through the lines of code, she finally found her error and saw how stupid a mistake it had been. Shaking her head, she corrected the error.

With a sigh, Sam closed her eyes and massaged her temples. She wished that Daniel was here. Considering that there was absolutely nothing he could have done to help her, that was an odd thought. Nevertheless, it didn't stop her from making the wish. Over the past three days, she'd barely seen the archeologist. Of course, one of those days was her day off, so she didn't count that. It was the other two days that were on her mind. She and Daniel usually got together for at least one meal each day, but he hadn't been in the commissary for breakfast on those two days, and he hadn't stopped by her lab to drag her away for lunch either day. Yesterday afternoon, Sam went to Daniel's office to see if he'd like to take a break and get some dessert, but he told her that he had a lot of work to do. She noticed that he seemed to be having trouble looking at her.

Sam had heard about how much weight Daniel lifted in the gym, and she had also heard an unsubstantiated rumor that he and Jack got into a hand-to-hand combat workout and that Daniel "cleaned the colonel's clock." She wanted to talk about these things with him, but she'd gotten the impression that Daniel didn't feel like socializing, at least not with her.

Sam didn't know what was going on. Had she done something to make him angry at her? She couldn't figure out what it could have been. She just knew that she missed her friend. That, too, was odd considering that there had been times when she hadn't seen Daniel for several days, like when he was on a mission with another team, and it had never been that big of a deal as long as she knew that he was okay. Yet, here she was, missing him when he was merely one floor away from her.

Daniel was not the only thing on Sam's mind. She'd also been doing a lot of thinking about Pete. Ever since she compared him to Daniel and found him a little wanting, she had been wondering if he was the right guy for her. Pete had wanted to go on another date the following night, but Sam told him that she needed to work late for the next two nights. That was sort of true since they were really close to getting the frequency jamming device finished, and she wanted to complete it. But the real reason had been that she wanted to take a step back for a couple of days and think about her future with Pete. Could she have a long-term relationship with someone who had no interest in the science that was so much a part of her life? This was a question that Sam had asked herself about Jack, and the answer had been one of the reasons why she never did more than briefly entertain the idea of resigning from the Air Force to be with him.

It was her conversation with the hallucination of Jack on the Prometheus that drove Sam to say yes when Pete first asked her on a date. She had finally admitted to herself that she held onto her feelings for Jack because it was safe. As long as she was holding out for something that was unattainable, she wouldn't be taking the chance of getting hurt by becoming involved with someone else and then losing them. She had lost so many men she cared about, the worst of which being Daniel, though she got him back.

Now, why would she be adding Daniel to that list? She never had romantic feelings for him, not like she did for Narim, Martouf and, for a brief time, Orlin. Yes, okay, so she was feeling some physical attraction to him, but that was totally different. He was, after all, a very handsome man. It was only natural that she'd wonder what it would be like to have se— Whoa! Since when was she thinking about sex with Daniel? _Kissing_. She had been wondering what it would be like to _kiss_ him again, not . . . not that other thing!

Sam was glad that there was no one else around right now since her face was flaming with embarrassment. This was getting out of hand. First, she wonders what a passionate kiss with Daniel would be like, now she's wondering how it would feel to make love with him.

Sam got up from the desk and left her lab. She hadn't been very hungry this morning, so she chose to skip breakfast. Now, she decided that she needed something to distract her.

In the commissary, Sam saw Teal'c in line and decided to join him. And then she saw Daniel. He was sitting at one of the tables, his face hidden by his crossed arms, which were resting on the tabletop. Sam was instantly concerned.

She and Teal'c got their food and went over to the table. Sam sat down beside Daniel and gently rubbed his back. His head lifted, and he looked at her. Sam was distressed by his appearance. The skin under his eyes was puffy, the eyes slightly bloodshot. He looked exhausted.

"Daniel? What's wrong?" she asked. "You look like you haven't slept in days."

"I haven't. Actually, I have _slept_, but all I do is dream, every night, all night long. I haven't had a good, restful sleep in five nights." Daniel rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands.

"You aren't still dreaming about Sarah, are you?"

"Actually, yes, I am, and it makes no sense. The dreams just keep getting weirder and weirder. In the one I had last night, Sarah gave me a stone tablet that had Ancient written on it, and I could read it."

"What's so weird about that? You _can_ read Ancient."

"But I couldn't back then. I looked at the tablet and instantly knew that Medieval Latin was a derivative of the language. That's not possible, not if these are really dreams from the past. Besides, I am certain that Sarah never showed me a tablet with Ancient on it."

"Perhaps you are attempting to reveal something to yourself," Teal'c suggested.

Daniel looked at him. "Like?"

Sam realized what the Jaffa was saying. "Like something from when you were ascended."

"Such as you prior vision of Bra'tac and Rya'c in danger," Teal'c said.

"The tablet sounds like it might be similar to the one you found when you were on Abydos."

"That was to lead to the Lost City of the Ancients."

"But didn't," Daniel reminded them. "You think that, somehow, I know the location of the Lost City, and I just don't remember?"

"If you have the dream again, perhaps you should translate the tablet," Teal'c recommended.

Daniel looked at Teal'c and Sam. He nodded his head faintly, rolled his eyes upward, and dropped his head back onto his arms.

_'Poor Daniel,'_ Sam thought. "Have you tried to put yourself into a deeper state of sleep with biofeedback?"

"No, I don't want to take the chance. Every time I've tried to do that, I ended up having a vision of some kind. I'd rather not tempt fate."

"Daniel, you can't keep on going like this. You need sleep."

The archeologist lifted his head again. "I know." He let out a sigh. "Okay, if it happens again tonight, I'll try biofeedback tomorrow."

* * *

Daniel dragged himself out of bed with a groan and stumbled to the bathroom. Another night of dreams. In this one, he had made a lot of progress with translating the tablet. It definitely had to do with the Lost City of the Ancients, which excited him greatly. The problem was that, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't complete the translation. His dream self had tried for hours, Sarah encouraging him patiently and faithfully. It was very frustrating.

Daniel took a very long, hot shower in an attempt to wake up. It helped only a little. Forty minutes later, after having consumed two cups of coffee and placing a third one in the cupholder of his car, Daniel pulled out of his driveway and headed for work.

Over the past few days, Daniel had been avoiding Sam's company as much as possible in a effort to protect himself from pain. The problem was that he missed the time he spent with her as a friend, their meals together in the commissary, their conversations in her lab or his office. Not counting that talk with her and Teal'c at breakfast yesterday, he hadn't spent any real time with Sam in four days.

Daniel knew that he couldn't keep this up. He could not cut off his friendship with Sam to keep himself from hurting every time she talked about Pete. Her friendship was far too important to him. Once he'd gotten rid of these persistent dreams and had gotten some decent sleep, he'd have to ask her if she'd like to do something with him.

Upon arriving at the base, Daniel went straight to his office, having picked up breakfast on the way. The day dragged on endlessly, mostly because he was so tired. Jack came into the office at one point and told him that he should go home and to bed, but the archeologist figured that, if he did, he'd probably just have more dreams. Instead, he planned on making himself so exhausted that he couldn't help but sleep deeply. He was intending to get in a strenuous workout at the gym tonight for that very purpose.

Daniel had promised Sam that he would try the biofeedback tonight. Between it and the exhaustion, he was sincerely hoping that his brain would finally decide to call it quits with the dreams.

* * *

Sam parked outside her house. She got out of the car and picked up her mail. She was partway up the walkway when she spied something on her porch. That something proved to be a single red rose and a note from Pete. The note read, "Dinner at eight, surprise to follow. Dress up."

Sam went inside and put down the mail. She got a bud vase and put the rose in it. As she looked at the flower, she tried to decide whether or not she should go on the date. She really did like Pete. He was a good guy. Only four days ago, she had been thinking that they might just have something good together. Now, she wasn't so sure. But, regardless of her doubts, she couldn't just break thing off cold turkey. Pete deserved better than that.

Deciding to give her relationship with him another chance, Sam went into her bedroom to decide what to wear.

* * *

Teal'c was in the gym when Daniel got there. There were also a few other guys there, every one of whom looked at the archeologist. Choosing to ignore them, Daniel started his workout, being very careful not to use his telekinetic abilities. He was actually pleased upon finding out that he really was no stronger physically than he had been before all this stuff started.

Teal'c was bench pressing when Daniel took a seat beside him and started doing some arm curls. After a moment, he began talking with the Jaffa about his dreams. This led to Teal'c doing an impersonation of Sigmund Freud, attempting to decipher the reason for the dreams, which resulted in the linguist feeling even more frustrated. After taking a shower, he went back to his office and worked for a couple of hours, then headed home.

It was way too late to eat, and Daniel wasn't hungry anyway, so he decided to go straight to bed. He was so tired that he thought for sure that he'd fall instantly into a deep sleep, but he'd thought the same thing yesterday. This time, he wasn't going to take the chance.

Though it had been a while since he used biofeedback, Daniel had no trouble quickly lowering his brainwave pattern down to a theta frequency. He then slowly lowered it further. At last he reached a low delta frequency. Instead of falling asleep, however, Daniel let himself float in a peaceful, trance-like state as the minutes ticked by, letting the balance of his mind and body be restored after all those days of little to no delta sleep.

Daniel did not know how long he was like that when he became aware of something. Even in this state of having no awareness of his surroundings, his sixth sense was telling him that he was no longer alone. Instinct took over.

Daniel's eyes snapped open, and, with a quick, fluid motion that would have made Jack proud, he rolled off the bed onto the floor and came up into a crouch. His eyes met those of the surprisingly familiar intruder.

"Well, good evening, Doctor Jackson," Osiris said with a smile. "What a shame that you had to wake up. I suppose this means that our time together is at an end."


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER FOUR

Sam had to admit that tonight's date was really nice, even if some of it had been a bit of a surprise. Whatever possessed Pete to crash the fiftieth anniversary party of two people he didn't even know was beyond Sam, but it was fun all the same. They danced for hours. If it wasn't for one thing, Sam would have been completely content. That one thing was Daniel. She couldn't seem to get him out of her mind tonight. She was concerned for him and his inability to get any real sleep. He was supposed to use biofeedback tonight, and she hoped that he did. She was also still thinking about how he almost seemed to be avoiding her lately. If she had gone to breakfast at her usual time yesterday, she wouldn't have seen him at all that day. She hadn't seen him today except for when she poked her head into his office to find out if he'd gotten any sleep. The second she'd laid eyes on him, she knew the answer to that question and made him swear that he'd try the biofeedback tonight.

Sam and Pete were now on their way back to her house. Sam was thinking about inviting Pete inside, but she knew that would be an open invitation for him to take things a lot further. So, didn't she want that? They had been dating for several weeks, long enough to go beyond just hugging, kissing and hand-holding, though maybe not long enough to go all the way.

It had been so long since Sam had been intimate with a man that she'd nearly forgotten what it felt like. And she did want that, longed for it . . . but did she want it with Pete?

That question had no sooner crossed her mind when the car pulled up to her house. Pete turned off the engine and looked at her. A little nervously, Sam smiled.

"I had a wonderful time, Pete. Thank you so much," she said.

"I had a great time, too, Sam." Pete caressed her cheek, then pulled her in for a long kiss.

As Pete's hand started wandering over Sam's body, causing a thrill to quiver down her spine, Sam almost said to hell with it and told him to come in. But something stopped her, a feeling that was telling her that something was missing, something important.

Sam slowly pulled back. Pete smiled into her eyes.

"That was very nice," he said. The look in his eyes and the way that he was touching her told Sam that he wanted her.

"Yes, it was," she admitted.

"So . . . are we going to sit out here the rest of the night?" he asked teasingly. "Not that I have anything against that, mind you. I've spent some very pleasant hours with women inside cars." His smile broadened. "I'm talking about stakeouts, of course."

Sam laughed. "Of course you are." Her smile faded. "Um, Pete, I. . . ."

Pete's smile was also gone. "I'm guessing that this is good night."

Sam met his eyes, seeing the disappointment there. "I'm sorry. I . . . I guess I'm just not ready yet. But I did have a wonderful night, Pete."

"I'm glad, though I have to be honest and say that I'd hoped the wonderful night would be continuing."

Sam sighed. "I know."

Pete put a smile back on. "Hey, there's always tomorrow night, right?"

Sam's lips turned up. "Maybe. I haven't agreed to go on another date yet."

"Oops. How presumptuous of me. Samantha Carter, would you go out with me tomorrow?"

Sam thought about it for a moment. "All right."

Pete's smile grew into a grin. "Great!"

Sam got out of the car and gave him a soft kiss. "See you tomorrow."

"I have to go back to Denver in the morning to file my report, but I'll be back later on. Will eight o'clock work again for you?"

"That'll be great."

Sam went up the path to her house. After unlocking the door and opening it, she waved at Pete, who had waited for her to reach the house safely. He waved back, started the car and drove away. Sam went inside and shut the door behind her. For a moment, the emptiness of the house made her wish that she'd let Pete come in. But, no. She had made the right decision. Until she was absolutely sure it was what she wanted, she could not make love with Pete. Doing otherwise would be a big mistake. She'd already made too many mistakes in her life when it came to men. She didn't want to make another.

Satisfied with her decision, Sam headed, alone, to her bedroom.

* * *

Daniel slowly and cautiously rose to his feet, staring at Osiris. "You've been trying to access my memories of the Ancients," he said, now understanding everything. "You thought you could find out the location of the Lost City from me."

"Very good, Doctor Jackson. That is exactly what I was attempting to do. And I was so very close to succeeding."

"Now, I know that you can't be getting into my house by ordinary means, so I'm guessing that you're transporting yourself here somehow."

"Anubis once probed the mind of Thor and gained access to the Asgards' beaming technology."

"Ah. Okay, so why didn't you just grab me and probe _my_ mind?" Daniel realized the answer before Osiris could reply. "You can't, can you. The mind probe can't access my memories of the Ancients. Is it because they're in my subconscious or does it have to do with the way Oma blocked them?"

"It does not matter, not to you. It is a shame that I am going to have to kill you, Doctor Jackson. My host is quite fond of you and has many pleasant memories of your time as lovers. If there was time, it would be quite interesting to see how accurate her memories are of you and your . . . skills."

Anger arose in Daniel upon hearing the Goa'uld's words. It enraged him that the creature had raped Sarah's mind like that, stealing private memories that should have belonged only to Sarah and him.

His anger took a back seat as Osiris lifted her hand, the ribbon device beginning to glow. Not hesitating a second, Daniel mentally struck out at her. The Goa'uld went flying backwards and crashed into the wall, falling to the floor. Shaken, she got to her feet, both shock and wariness on her face.

"What manner of weapon do you use against me?" she asked, moving cautiously away from the wall and around to the end of the bed. She looked at him up and down. "I see no weapon on your body."

Daniel glanced down at himself. "You know, if I was Jack, I'd probably make a very crude remark right now," he said.

Osiris glared at him. "Do not toy with me, Doctor Jackson. If I so choose, I could crush you for your insolence."

"Do all of you Goa'uld read from the same script or something? You know, you really should come up with some new material."

Apparently deciding that she didn't like Daniel's attitude, Osiris tried yet again to blast him with the ribbon device. This time, she didn't even have the opportunity to activate it. The device was torn off her arm and went flying through the air to land in Daniel's outstretched hand. A second later, the Goa'uld was thrown back against the far wall and pinned against it, unable to move.

"What is this? What trickery do you use?" Osiris snarled, struggling against the unseen force that held her captive. "What alien power have you discovered?"

Daniel realized that there was no point in trying to hide the truth. Sooner or later, Osiris would figure it out anyway. "Well, if you were Nirrti, you'd probably call me a Hok'tar," he said as he walked up to her.

The Goa'uld's eyes narrowed. "An advanced human." Her expression turned calculating. "If this is true, you would be of great value to Anubis."

"Oh, I'm sure I would be, which is why I can't let you tell him. I should probably call someone to come get you since I really don't want to have to entertain you all night. So, if I let go of you, will you behave?" Osiris just stared at him, not answering. Daniel gave a little sigh. "Yeah, that's kind of what I figured."

The sudden sound of a car backfiring startled Daniel, momentarily breaking his concentration and his hold on Osiris. The Goa'uld instantly took advantage of the moment of freedom. Before Daniel could stop her, she touched the device on her left wrist. The familiar blue-white light of an Asgard beam enveloped her. Not stopping to think, Daniel grabbed onto her. An instant later, he found himself onboard a Goa'uld Al'Kesh. A second after that, his throat was seized in a crushing grip. He looked into Osiris' eyes and saw her intent to kill him.

The memory of what he did with the barbell came to Daniel's mind. With all his physical strength, he shoved the Goa'uld away, tapping into his telekinetic abilities at the same time. Osiris' grip on his throat was broken as she was hurled twenty feet across the room. She landed hard and slid across the floor another six or seven feet.

A sharp pain in his neck made Daniel reach his fingers up to it. They came back red with blood. He'd been scratched by Osiris' fingernails.

Seeing the Goa'uld get to her feet rather painfully, Daniel gave a silent apology to Sarah.

Osiris moved slowly to her right, Daniel watching her closely. He didn't want to attack again for fear that he'd serious hurt Sarah, but if the Goa'uld gave him no choice, he'd have to defend himself. He could not let her escape, not with the knowledge she now had about him.

"You are, indeed, quite powerful, Doctor Jackson," Osiris said, coming to a stop behind a control console. "Anubis will be very pleased."

Daniel's sixth sense warned him an instant before the Goa'uld pulled out a zat gun. At the same time that she pulled the trigger, Daniel struck at her again. But it was too late. He felt the blast hit him even as he saw the Goa'uld go flying backwards. He fell, losing his battle to remain conscious a second after hitting the floor.

* * *

Jack was awakened by the ringing of the phone. His eyes only half-open, he reached for it and put it up to his ear.

"This had better be good," he grumbled.

"Colonel O'Neill?"

The no-nonsense tone of the unfamiliar voice fully roused Jack. He sat up, hoping that he hadn't just ticked off some four-star. "Yes?"

"This is Detective MacGregor. You are listed as the emergency contact for Doctor Daniel Jackson."

"What's wrong? What's happened to Daniel?" Jack asked as he sat upright.

"I'm afraid that we don't know, sir. Neighbors reported a disturbance at Doctor Jackson's house. When police responded, they found signs of a struggle inside. Doctor Jackson is missing."

Crap. This was not good. "I'll be right over. I have some reason to believe that this might be connected to Doctor Jackson's work with the military. I will be contacting my superiors, and you can expect a team to be showing up there."

"Very well, Colonel. Just make sure that your people don't get in the way of the forensics team. He may be an employee of the military, but Doctor Jackson is still a civilian."

Jack hung up and quickly dressed. As he rushed out the door, he dialed General Hammond's house. When the general answered, Jack told him what was going on.

"Sir, I don't know what we're dealing with, but we need to make sure this gets turned over to us. If some cop gets too nosy, it's going to cause problems. And if any of them start taking a peek at those personal journals of Daniel's. . . ."

"There's no need to say anything more, Colonel. I'll make some calls right away."

"Thank you, sir. Oh, and could you be sure that Teal'c is told and is with the team that's sent over?"

"Consider it done."

Jack was already on the road when he disconnected the call. Normally, he would now contact Sam, but he was concerned that, if she had a date with that Pete guy tonight, she might be . . . in the middle of something. For the sake of Daniel, he didn't want to believe that was the case, but he had to be realistic.

Jack traveled another couple of blocks before making up his mind. Carter needed to know, and if he _didn't_ call her, she'd probably be furious with him later. He hit the speed dial for her home number. Sam's sleepy voice answered the call.

"Carter, something's happened to Daniel. He's missing, and there's evidence of a struggle at his place."

There was a soft gasp. "You mean somebody took him?" Sam asked.

"I don't know. Considering what Daniel can do, I find it hard to believe that anyone could managed to snatch him. I'm on my way over there now."

"I'll be there as soon as I can, sir."

The click and the following silence told him that Sam had hung up. Jack put his phone back in his pocket. A short while later, he was pulling up near Daniel's house. There were several cops in the yard and curious neighbors all over the place. Crime scene tape was all around the house.

Jack headed over to one of the uniformed cops. He showed his ID and asked to see Detective MacGregor or whomever was in charge. A couple of minutes later, a short, balding man in his fifties approached Jack. He held out his hand.

"Colonel O'Neill, I'm Detective MacGregor."

Jack shook the proffered hand. "Do you have anything yet?" he asked as he slipped under the tape.

"No, not yet. The forensics people are going over the place right now. We've interviewed the neighbors. No one saw anyone entering or leaving the house, even after the racket that caused them to call the police. A couple of people claimed that they saw a bright flash of light in the bedroom. The interesting thing is that all of the doors and windows are locked from the inside. There is no way that anyone could have gotten out."

Jack had stiffened the second that the detective mentioned a bright flash of light. Damn. Not that. _Please_ don't let it be that.

The sound of someone slamming on their brakes drew Jack's attention to the road. Sam's silver Volvo had just made a rather sudden stop across the street from Daniel's house. The major jumped out of her car and hurried over. A cop stopped her, and, for a brief instant, Jack thought that Sam was going to use her advanced level three hand-to-hand training on the hapless man to make him get out of her way. Instead, she showed her ID and pointed at Jack. The officer let her by.

"Sir, any news?" Sam asked, slightly out of breath. Considering how fast she got here, it was no wonder.

"I'll fill you in later, Major. Detective MacGregor, this is Major Carter. She works with Doctor Jackson."

The detective shook Sam's hand. "Do you know of anyone who might have reason to kidnap Doctor Jackson?" he asked.

Sam glanced at Jack. "He is privy to quite a bit of classified information. It's possible that someone took him to gain access to it."

"You mean like foreign spies?" the cop asked, doubt heavy in his voice.

"There is a chance that whomever took him is . . . foreign," Jack replied.

Sam looked at Jack sharply. He met her eyes, and a silent message passed between them. The worry on Sam's face increased tenfold.

Jack turned back to MacGregor. "Due to national security, we're going to have to take over this investigation."

"Oh, I don't think so, Colonel," the man responded unpleasantly. "Like I told you on the phone, Doctor Jackson is a civilian, which puts this under our jurisdiction."

"Not when matters of national security apply," Jack insisted.

"Well, unless I get a call from the president telling me to turn this over to you, this case stays with us."

Just then, Jack's phone rang. He talked with the person for a few seconds, then held the phone out to MacGregor. "It's for you."

"Who is it? The president?" the detective sneered.

"Nah, it's only the governor."

MacGregor lost his sneer. He took the phone.

"This is Detective MacGregor, sir. It's an honor to— Yes, sir, I am." There was a pause as the person on the other end spoke. "What? But sir, I don't understand." Another pause ensued, at the end of which, the detective was frowning severely. "Yes, sir. Goodbye, sir."

The cop handed the phone back to Jack with a sour expression. "He told me to turn the case over to you. You guys must have some connections pretty high up to have the governor calling people at this time of night." The man's eyes narrowed. "Exactly what does this Doctor Jackson do for the military anyway?"

"Now, Detective, you don't really want me to tell you that, do you?" Jack asked pleasantly. "I'd think that you would want to live to see your next birthday."

The expression that crossed MacGregor's face was both shock and nervousness. "You're not joking, are you."

"That's for me to know and for you to . . . _not_ know."

The man paused. "Fine. The case is yours."

"Good! Now, we're going to want all the evidence that your forensic people gathered."

"Right."

MacGregor called one of the uniformed cops over and told him to go into the house and tell the forensics team to stop what they were doing, pack up, and turn any evidence gathered over to Jack.

A few minutes later, several people came out carrying equipment. One of them came over and, after giving Jack a penetrating look, handed him some evidence bags, which Jack gave to Sam.

A while later, the cops had all left. A moment after that, a military SUV pulled up out front. Teal'c and SG-3 got out.

"O'Neill, what has happened to Daniel Jackson?" the Jaffa asked.

"We don't know yet, but I have a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach that the Goa'uld are involved."

"How do you know, sir?" Sam asked.

Jack glanced about, seeing all the curious neighbors still hanging around. "Come on. Let's go inside. Colonel Reynolds, stay out here and secure the perimeter. Don't let any of those nosy neighbors get too nosy."

"Yes, sir."

Jack, Sam and Teal'c went inside. Everything looked fine in the house until they got to the bedroom. That's where the mess was. Several things that used to be hanging on the walls were now scattered all over the floor, some of them damaged or broken. A small table had been overturned, the items on it also littering the floor.

"Well, whatever happened here, somebody put up a good fight," Jack remarked.

"Sir, why do you think that the Goa'uld are involved?" Sam asked again.

"Some of the neighbors reported seeing a bright flash of light here in the bedroom."

"You're thinking a ribbon device?"

"Well, that or some kind of transportation device, like what the Asgard have. All the doors and windows were locked from the inside when the cops got here."

Sam's eyes widened. "Oh my God. Anubis!"

"What? What about Anubis?"

"He probed Thor's mind. It's very likely that he obtained information on the Asgards' beaming technology."

"Major Carter, Osiris is in the service of Anubis," Teal'c said.

"Yes, she is. Do you think that she was the one who took Daniel?"

"I was thinking of the dreams that Daniel Jackson has been experiencing."

"Dreams?" Jack repeated. "Daniel said something about having some dreams that were keeping him awake."

Sam nodded. "He's been having dreams about Sarah Gardner, about back when they knew each other in Chicago. The dreams were all wrong, though. In them, there was a tablet with Ancient written on it with information about the Lost City. Daniel was trying to translate it."

"I believe that the dreams may have been created by Osiris in an attempt to gain knowledge of the Lost City," Teal'c stated. "The Goa'uld possess the technology to explore a person's memory."

Sam nodded. "She could have been sneaking into Daniel's house at night and using some sort of modified memory device, attempting to get the information out of his subconscious."

Jack cursed under his breath. "Daniel probably woke up, there was a big fight between them, and she somehow managed to blast him with a ribbon device and knock him out."

Sam had a terrible thought. "Sir, if Daniel used his abilities against her, it would mean that she now knows about them. She would immediately see the advantages of having control of that kind of power, and the only way that she could have real control would be to—"

"No! Don't say it," Jack ordered sharply.

"You believe that Osiris may have taken Daniel Jackson as a host?" Teal'c asked.

"Ahhh! I said not to say that!" Jack exclaimed. "No way! That snake has _not_ taken over Daniel. I refuse to even _consider_ that."

The three members of SG-1 fell silent, all of them hoping that they'd get Daniel back, and that he would still be himself when they did.


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER FIVE

Daniel slowly regained consciousness. The ache in his body reminded him that he'd been zatted yet again. Getting to his feet, he looked about. He was in a cell. The opening was protected by a force field like the one that had kept Jonas a prisoner on Anubis' ship. Daniel wondered if there was some way that he'd be able to disable it.

At that moment, Daniel sensed the presence of a host and symbiote and turned to see Osiris coming up to the cell.

"Hello, Doctor Jackson. I hope you are feeling well. It would be a shame if I damaged that very valuable mind of yours."

"Oh, I'm just peachy," Daniel told her, not caring that he sounded like Jack.

"Good. I have to say that I am quite fascinated by this ability of yours. It is very impressive. Tell me. Do you possess other powers that I have yet to see?"

"Would you like me to show you? I'd be happy to give you a demonstration if you let me out of here."

"That will not be necessary. Very soon, I will know all about your powers. I had been intending to give you to Anubis, but I have decided that I will take you for myself instead. With you as my new host, I would be more powerful than any of the other Goa'uld. I will conquer them one by one until I control all."

"Um, well, I can think of a couple of flaws in your plan," Daniel said. "One is that, even with me as your host, you couldn't defeat Anubis. I'm not all-powerful. There are limits to my abilities, and I couldn't possibly do anything to harm someone who is half-ascended."

"I'm sure that I will find a way," Osiris said confidently.

"Well, the other flaw is me. There is no way that I'll let you take me as a host."

"You will not be able to stop me. I can easily render you unconscious. In that state, you will be powerless to prevent me from taking your body."

"I'll kill myself first."

"There is a sarcophagus aboard this vessel. I will merely revive you." Osiris took a step closer, smiling in triumph. "You are helpless to stop me, Doctor Jackson. You will be mine."

* * *

Sam sat in the briefing room, sick with worry. She was almost positive that Daniel had been taken captive by Osiris, and she had this horrible fear that, at this very moment, he was being made a host to the Goa'uld. If that happened, what were they going to do? A Goa'uld with Daniel's powers would be a deadly threat. If they ever encountered him, they'd have no choice but to kill him. They couldn't try to take him captive.

"Major Carter?"

Sam's head snapped up. "What?" She looked around at everyone. Jack, Teal'c and Hammond were all staring at her. "Oh, um, sorry, sir. What were you saying?"

The general gave her a kindly look. "I asked if you had any idea where Osiris might take Doctor Jackson. Teal'c believes that she will not turn him over to Anubis."

"Uh, no, probably not, not if she knows about Daniel's abilities. The Goa'uld are always looking for ways to make themselves more powerful and get the upper hand on other Goa'uld. She would most likely take Daniel as a host so that she could use his powers to defeat the others and take over their territories."

Teal'c nodded. "As I said a moment ago. Osiris would not be willing to part with such power, even if it means betraying Anubis."

"What are the chances that Osiris _doesn't_ know about Daniel's abilities?" Jack asked.

"Well, if she took him completely by surprise, I suppose that she could have knocked him out before he could react," Sam replied, "but if Daniel was in the bed, he wouldn't have been thrown against that wall by a ribbon device blast. It was pretty obvious that whoever hit that wall was airborne at the time."

"Couldn't she have surprised Daniel when he came walking in the room?" Jack knew that he was grasping at straws, but he just didn't want to believe that Daniel had been taken to be made into a host.

"Daniel Jackson can now sense a Goa'uld," Teal'c reminded him. "It is unlikely that he could have been taken by surprise if he was conscious."

Jack had forgotten about that. Daniel's sixth sense usually warned him if someone was nearby, unless he was extremely distracted, and he could now sense the dual presence of a host and symbiote. He'd have known about Osiris's presence immediately.

"I suppose it is possible that Osiris could have beamed down right in front of Daniel and knocked him out right away," Sam said, also searching for anything to give them hope.

Hammond nodded. "All right. The fact is that we have no way of knowing if Osiris is aware of Doctor Jackson's abilities or where she might have taken him."

Just then, Janet came into the briefing room. She had been off duty when Hammond called her but immediately came back to base when he told her about Daniel and asked her if there was someone on base who could examine some evidence gathered by the police forensics team.

"I have some news," she said. "Among the stuff gathered by the forensics team were several strands of long, curly blond hair, which were caught in one of the masks that were found on Daniel's floor.

"Oh, crap," Jack said, knowing that was not good news. They all knew who had long, curly blond hair, and the fact that the hair was found on something that used to be on Daniel's wall could mean only one thing.

"Daniel _did_ fight her," Sam said, speaking Jack's thoughts aloud, "which means that she knows."

Hammond looked at them all grimly. "I'm afraid that this leaves me no choice. All SG teams will be told that there is a strong chance that Doctor Jackson has been made a host. If any of them encounter him on a mission and it is confirmed that he has been taken over by a Goa'uld, they are to shoot to kill."

* * *

Daniel's heart was thudding in his chest. If Osiris knocked him out, she could easily take him over. He couldn't let that happen, no matter what he had to do to stop it. He knew that he could blow up the Al'Kesh, killing both himself and Osiris. It was not an option he wished to use, but, if he had no other choice, he wouldn't hesitate to do it. It's not like it would be the first time he gave his life to save others.

There was another possible choice, however. The idea of killing Sarah before his eyes sickened him, but if he had to choose between that and being made a host, there really was no choice to be made. Yes, he could put her in the sarcophagus afterwards, but the act of killing her would still forever haunt him. Once before, he'd made the decision to kill Sarah and Osiris, though it had torn him apart. Even more was at stake this time. No matter what, he had to prevent his psychic abilities from getting into the hands of the Goa'uld. Daniel knew that, physically, it would be so easy to do. He could do it right here and now. That force field would not stop him.

His stomach clenching, Daniel prepared himself to snuff out the life of a woman he had once cared for very deeply. But, before he could strike, Osiris unexpectedly smiled, turned and walked away. Daniel stood unmoving for several seconds, not quite believing that he'd been given a reprieve. Finally, he relaxed and set his mind to finding another way out of this situation.

Daniel's eyes cast about the prison cell, looking for something that he could use. Eventually, his gaze returned to the force field. There had to be a mechanism somewhere that controlled it. If he could destroy that, the force field would collapse. But what if he was being watched? The Goa'uld were not really big on anything like closed circuit cameras, so Osiris probably couldn't see him, but the ship could be equipped with sensors that tracked his precise location, meaning that, if he escaped from this cell, Osiris would know about it. Daniel didn't want to be zatted again. At least he did have the advantage that he could sense her presence, which would warn him if she was near. That might be enough.

Daniel knew that he might still have no choice but to kill Osiris and Sarah, but at least there was hope now that it wouldn't be necessary.

Daniel pressed his face against the wall near the doorway of the cell and attempted to see some kind of control panel for the force field, but it was useless. If there was one, it was beyond his sight. He stepped back. It might _not_ be beyond another kind of sight, however. Could he use the same ability that enabled him to find Sam when she was marooned on the Prometheus? Even if he could, would his telekinetic ability work on something he couldn't see with his eyes?

_'I guess I'll be finding out soon enough,'_ he said to himself.

Closing his eyes, Daniel went through the process he had used when he found Sam. Upon reaching the right brainwave frequency, he attempted to 'see' the mechanism that was controlling the force field. It proved to be a lot harder than it had been to see Sam, and, for a few minutes, Daniel thought he was going to fail. But then, all at once, he found it, or at least what he thought was it. There was only one way to find out if he was right.

Daniel focused his mind fully on the mechanism, willing it to explode. For a second or two, he didn't think it was going to work, then there was the sound of something exploding inside the wall. The force field instantly vanished.

Daniel cautiously stuck his head outside the cell and looked in both directions. If he was right about the sensors, the moment he stepped outside the cell, Osiris would know. He would have to be on guard, every sense alert, including his sixth sense. If she surprised him and zatted him again, she would most likely take him as a host immediately rather than taking the chance of him escaping again. But he would accomplish nothing by staying here. He had to gain control of the ship and get it back to Earth.

Senses on full alert, Daniel stepped out of the cell. He headed in the direction that he believed the bridge to be. He was almost there when he suddenly sensed Osiris' presence and realized that she was behind him. He dove to the floor an instant before hearing a zat gun discharged. The blast shot past him, missing by mere inches, close enough that he felt the energy.

Daniel rolled over and attacked. A fireball exploded into being and raced straight toward Osiris. She dove out of the way, and it struck a wall, leaving a huge scorch mark. Stunned by the unexpected form of attack, she aimed the zat at Daniel. She never had a chance to fire. The weapon burst into flames. With a cry, she dropped it, staring as it melted into an unrecognizable blob. She looked back up at Daniel and watched him slowly rise to his feet, blue eye piercing straight into her.

It was then that, for the first time in her life, Osiris felt true fear. Scrambling to her feet, she turned and ran, ducking around a corner.

Daniel watched her leave. His head was pounding. The fireball hadn't been bad since it was much smaller than the ones that he used against the enemy Jaffa. It was the added effort of melting the zat that gave him the headache. Like the staff weapon, it took a lot to reach the melting point. It might even be made from the same material. The headache wasn't too terribly bad, though, nothing compared to what he'd felt before a few times. Even so, he needed to take it easy, if at all possible. Unfortunately, he had a feeling that wasn't going to be an option.

Daniel took off after the Goa'uld. He'd seen fear on her face, something that he'd seen on the face of a Goa'uld only once before, when Apophis was dying after being tortured by Sokar. Either she was going to get another weapon or she was going to try to escape. Since they were in hyperspace, she wouldn't be able to launch an escape pod. Therefore, she'd have to drop the ship out of hyperspace first. Even as he had that thought, he felt the sudden deceleration. Knowing that he had to hurry, he dashed toward where the escape pods would be.

Daniel spied the figure of Osiris inside one of the pods just before the door slid completely closed. Acting quickly, he grabbed hold of the pod with his mind and held it in place. It wasn't easy. The launch mechanism was fighting to eject the pod from the ship. Daniel held on, feeling his headache worsening dramatically.

Realizing that it was the only thing he could do, Daniel began pulling on the pod, trying to rip it from its moorings. There was the sound of tortured metal, and the pod jerked violently. Trying harder, Daniel saw it jerk again. Then, all of a sudden, it tore free, and toppled to the floor. Daniel joined it on the floor a moment later, the pain in his head like a red-hot poker. He closed his eyes and tried to push past the agony, knowing that, if Osiris got out of the pod now, he wouldn't have the strength to fight her.

It took a couple of tries, but Daniel managed to get to his feet. He staggered over to where he hoped to find some weapons. He was relieved to see a zat gun, along with some other weapons and devices.

Sitting with his back against the wall, Daniel kept his eyes on the escape pod holding Osiris, the zat gun ready to be fired. When, after five minutes, the door still did not open, Daniel began to wonder if she'd been knocked unconscious. Then he heard some pounding coming from inside. It occurred to him that the systems on the pod may have been damaged. Osiris might not be able to get the door open. It was also very possible that the life-support system was inoperable, which would mean that she would run out of air pretty quickly.

Though his head still hurt horribly, Daniel knew that he had to get the door open. He couldn't let Sarah suffocate. He went up to the pod. Zat aimed at it, he concentrated on the door. Slowly, it began to slide open. Trying to ignore the fact that his headache was getting worse again, Daniel kept at it. At last, Osiris was visible. Her eyes met his, both fearful and defiant. Without hesitation, Daniel pulled the trigger on the zat. Osiris' body jerked spasmodically as it was hit.

Knowing that the zat would incapacitate the Goa'uld for only a few seconds, Daniel hauled her out of the pod and put her on the floor beside it.

"Daniel?" said a weak voice, Sarah's voice. He looked at her, remembering that a zat blast could enable the host to temporarily regain control of the body.

"Sarah?"

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," she said, crying, both with pain and with shame.

"Shh. It's okay," Daniel said soothingly, stroking her cheek. "Everything will be fine."

"Don't let it take me again, Daniel. Please. I'd rather be dead."

"Sarah, you're going to be free soon. I promise."

There was no answer as Sarah's eyes flashed with the light of a Goa'uld presence. Daniel stumbled back and aimed the zat at the person who had become Osiris once again.

The Goa'uld sat up. She looked at the escape pod, then back at Daniel. "Your power it very great, Daniel," she purred. "You have become a god."

"Um, no. You see, unlike certain people I know, I don't have delusions of grandeur. I'm still just a man."

"If you and I were to join forces, we would be unstoppable. We could rule the galaxy."

Daniel couldn't help it. He started laughing at the absurdity of the Goa'uld's offer. Osiris glared at him.

"What makes you think that I'd _want_ to rule the galaxy?" he asked. "I'm perfectly happy being who and what I am, little, insignificant Daniel Jackson." He gave her a fake smile. "Well, maybe not _quite_ insignificant. After all, I beat you."

Osiris glared at him furiously. "You will pay for this. I will snuff out your puny life with my own hands."

"Puny life? Um, excuse me, but didn't you call me a god just a couple of minutes ago? That's an awfully fast demotion. You know, I could always put you back in the pod if you refuse to be nice."

"You would never do that. You value the life of my host too much."

"Oh, I'd leave the door open enough to let air in . . . barely. So, your choice. Tied up or put back in the nice, comfy, cozy escape pod?"

If looks could kill, he'd be a candidate for an autopsy table right now.

"I will allow you to bind me," Osiris said.

"Oh, thank you so very much. How generous of you."

Daniel got to his feet, trying very hard not to sway. He was still in a lot of pain, but he had to hide it. If Osiris perceived any weakness in him, she'd attack.

Waving the zat at her, Daniel told the Goa'uld to get to her feet and go back to the bridge. She did as he ordered. Once they were there, Daniel commanded Osiris to sit near the wall. Now, he had to figure out what he was going to use to tie her up. Goa'uld were very strong, so a piece of cloth wouldn't be enough.

Just then, Daniel's eyes fell upon something. It was a ribbon device. He picked it up and examined it. This might work. Glancing at Osiris to make sure she was going to stay put, Daniel laid the zat gun down and tested the strength of the metal. He found that he could not bend it with muscles alone. Good. Unfortunately, using this to bind Osiris would mean that he'd have to use his abilities again, something he _really_ didn't want to do right now. But, since he didn't have anything else he could use, he'd just have to deal with it.

With his mind, Daniel snapped the links that connected the portion of the device that fit on the user's hand to the part that wrapped around the wrist. Discarding the 'glove', he was left with a spiral of golden metal. He concentrated on it and slowly straightened it. Once he was done, he glanced at Osiris again. She was watching him in fascination, an expression almost like lust on her face. He knew that look was not sexual. She was lusting after his power.

Daniel walked up to her. "Turn and face the wall, and put you hands behind your back." Osiris did not obey. His eyes narrowing, Daniel said, "Now," his tone making it clear that he was not in the mood to put up with her attitude. His headache had gone back up a notch.

Shooting him another glare, Osiris did as he had ordered. Now would be the tricky part.

"Okay, I'm giving you a warning," Daniel said. "If you make any moves against me, I will snap your neck. And don't think that I won't do it. Yes, I hate the thought of killing Sarah, but I will do whatever I have to to keep from being made a Goa'uld, even if it means killing both of us by blowing up this ship. Oh, and in case you're wondering, I've already blown up one Al'Kesh. Another one won't be a problem. So, have I made myself clear?"

There was a pause before Osiris answered. "I will not attempt to fight you."

"Good."

Kneeling behind her and watching for any sudden moves, Daniel grabbed her wrists with his hands and, with his telekinetic ability, wrapped the band of gold around her lower arms, making it tight, but not so much so that it cut into the skin or hindered circulation.

Once he was finished, he got to his feet and backed away, telling Osiris that she could turn around.

"All right, let's see if we can get this ship back to Earth," he said. "I don't know about you, but I could really use a good night's sleep."

Daniel went to the navigation console and instructed the ship to return to Earth. Once that was done, he looked at Osiris. He really, really needed some sleep, but he didn't dare rest unless he was absolutely certain that she couldn't cause trouble. Perhaps temporarily putting her in the pod would be the best solution.

A few minutes later, Osiris was back in the pod, the door cracked open about half an inch to allow enough air to enter. He had been forced to suffer through a few curses and the usual Goa'uld stuff about punishing him for his insolence, yadda, yadda, yadda.

Daniel then went in search of the sleeping quarters. He found the 'master bedroom' pretty quickly. Looking at the huge, plush bed, he longed to throw himself upon it, but that's something he couldn't do.

He found the Goa'uld version of a bathroom, complete with hot and cold running water, where he cleaned away the blood on his neck and rinsed off the scratches. There were no first-aid supplies, of course, so that would have to wait until he got home.

Gathering an armload of bedding, Daniel carried it back to the bridge. He made up a bed on the floor, against the wall, then he laid down, zat gun within easy reach. Ten seconds later, he was asleep.

* * *

Jack, Sam and Teal'c were all in Daniel's office. None of them had gotten any more sleep last night. They were all too worried about their missing teammate, knowing that there was a very good chance that he was now no longer the man they all cared about so much.

"Sir, I don't know if I can continue being on SG-1," Sam said in a low, anguish-filled voice. "If we were ever on a mission and encountered Daniel, I don't know if I could. . . ."

Jack closed his eyes. He understood exactly what Sam was saying. How could he look into the face of his best friend and pull the trigger? How could he kill Daniel?

"I, too, would have great difficulty firing upon Daniel Jackson," Teal'c admitted.

Jack sighed. "Yeah." He met their gazes. "But Daniel wouldn't want to keep living as a Goa'uld. He'd want us to end it."

Sam felt tears sting her eyes, and she blinked them away. This was hurting so much, almost more than she could bear. "We can't give up hope. Maybe Osiris decided to wait before . . . before taking Daniel as a host. Or maybe he managed to get away or even overpower her."

"None of us are giving up hope yet, Carter, not as long as there is some chance that Daniel's okay."

"I heard that Hammond called the president."

Jack nodded. "He had to be told about the possibility that Daniel is now a Goa'uld."

"The Tok'ra will have to be told, too."

"Colonel O'Neill, Major Carter and Teal'c, come to the control room immediately."

The voice over the P.A. sent the three members of SG-1 running out of the office and heading down to the control room.

"What is it, sir?" Jack asked Hammond as soon as they arrived.

The general's face was serious, but there was also the tiniest glimmer of hope there. "We just received an audio transmission from Doctor Jackson."


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER SIX

"What?" Jack exclaimed upon hearing the news.

"He claims that he overpowered Osiris and gained control of the Al'Kesh they were onboard," Hammond explained. "He says that he's in orbit around Earth." He looked at all of them. "I don't think I have to tell you that I cannot trust that he really is Doctor Jackson."

"Yes, sir. I'd like to talk to him."

The general nodded and motioned for the technician to open the channel.

"Daniel? Is that you?" Jack asked.

"Hey, Jack. Yeah, it's me. Did you miss me?"

"You bet we did. So, would you like to explain what happened?"

"Well, it turns out that those dreams I was having weren't my own. Osiris was creating them in an attempt to get the location of the Lost City from me. She's been using Asgard beaming technology to get into my house every night after I'm asleep and then using a memory device to dig into my subconscious. Last night, she showed up again, only I wasn't really asleep. I'd used biofeedback to lower my brainwave pattern to a delta frequency. As soon as she showed up, I was aware of her. She tried to ribbon me, and I, uh, tossed her around a bit. But she managed to activate the control to beam herself out and, um. . . . Okay, I know you're not going to be happy about this next part, Jack, but please try to maintain some semblance of calm. I still have a headache, and the nap I took wasn't nearly enough. I've also been dealing with a very cranky Goa'uld for the past couple of hours. You know, there are some really interesting curse words in Goa'uld. I couldn't even translate some of them."

Jack grinned. That just _had_ to be Daniel. No Goa'uld could be that good at pretending to be him. "All right, Daniel, I won't get mad. What did you do?"

"I grabbed her before she could get away, but I got beamed up to the ship with her."

Jack opened his mouth to let out an exclamation but remembered his promise at the last second. "That wasn't especially bright, Daniel," he said instead, his tone excessively mild.

"Well, looking back on it now, I'd have to agree with you, but I couldn't let her get away, Jack. She knew about me. You know what would have happened if word of me reached Anubis or spread among the other Goa'uld."

Jack admitted to himself that Daniel did have a good point. "Okay, go on."

"We got into a bit of a fight, and I had the upper hand . . . until she zatted me."

Uh oh. "What happened next?"

"I woke up in a cell. Osiris told me that she had decided to take me for a host instead of giving me to Anubis. Fortunately, she didn't do it right then and there. She left me alone again. I broke out of the cell, had a little . . . scuffle with her, and, well, here I am."

"Sounds like quite an adventure."

"Yeah. Now, I just want to go home and sleep for a week."

"Um . . . yeah. That might be a problem."

"Why?"

"Well, you see, there's the question of whether or not you're still you."

There was a moment of silence. "Oh. Yeah, I should have thought of that. You can't be certain that Osiris didn't take me as a host."

"Is there any way that you can prove that you're really you?"

"How? If I'm a Goa'uld, I'd have access to all the memories of the host, so answering some question that only Daniel Jackson would know is useless." There was a pause. "Actually, maybe there _is_ a way. You guys can receive video from me, can't you?"

"Yes, our communications system has been set up to receive both audio and video transmissions from Goa'uld ships," Sam answered.

"Good. Okay, just let me figure out how to send a video transmission. I'll be right back."

A minute or so passed, then the image of Daniel appeared on the screen for incoming video transmissions.

"Um, hi. Can you guys see me?" he asked.

"Yes, Doctor Jackson. We can see you just fine," Hammond replied.

"Okay, hold on a sec."

Daniel walked out of view. Everybody heard a couple of people talking in the distance, then Daniel reappeared.

"All right, I think this should be proof enough that I'm not Osiris." He pulled someone else into view. Everyone looked with relief at the visage of Sarah Gardner.

"Tell them who you are," Daniel ordered her. When she didn't say anything, he gave her a little shake. "Remember. Be nice."

The woman's eyes glowed for a moment. "I am the god Osiris," she said with the voice of a Goa'uld, looking like she was ready to rip someone apart with her bare hands. None of them could ever remember seeing a Goa'uld looking so angry.

Jack grinned broadly. "Great to see ya, Osiris. Enjoying Daniel's company are you?"

"You will all pay for this insolence!" she snarled. "I will take great pleasure in killing you all slowly and destroying your pathetic planet. You will—"

Osiris' voice was cut off when Daniel abruptly gagged her. "Say goodbye now," he said, then marched her out of sight. He came back into view a few moments later. "Now you can see what I've had to put up with. It has not been a pleasant trip. At least she didn't keep saying, 'Are we there yet?' I really think I would have zatted her again."

Jack started laughing. So did Sam, and a few chuckles could be heard from Hammond, not to mention several others in the room.

"Hold on, Daniel." Jack motioned for the audio feed to be cut off, then turned to the general. "So, what do you say? It's obvious that he's not Osiris."

"Yes, but what are the chances that he was implanted with another Goa'uld?" Hammond asked.

"Osiris would not allow another Goa'uld to take Daniel Jackson as a host if it was possible for her to do so herself," Teal'c replied with conviction.

"And I don't think it's possible for Anubis to do so since he's half-ascended," Sam added.

"Come on, General," Jack pleaded. "We can't leave him sitting up there forever, and I sure can't think of a way to get an MRI up to that ship."

General Hammond thought about it for a few seconds, then nodded. "Very well. Tell Doctor Jackson that he can come home."

"Thank you, sir." Jack told the technician to reopen the channel. "Hey, Daniel. Come on home."

They all saw him relax, an expression of relief on his face. "Is it okay if I bring the Al'Kesh straight to the mountain? It's cloaked."

"Yes, that would be fine, Doctor Jackson," Hammond replied. "Please land it at the entrance on top. We will remove all of the vehicles there to make room."

"Okay. See you in a few."

The image of Daniel winked off. Hammond turned to an SF and told him to have the vehicles parked on the mountaintop moved. He then told another to send a large armed force up there just in case. He wasn't going to take any chances.

Jack, Sam, Teal'c and the general accompanied the armed men to the top. They'd only been there for a few minutes when the sound of an approaching ship alerted them to the fact that Daniel had arrived. There was a disturbance in the air, and the ship appeared right before them. A moment later, Daniel exited. He was wearing an athletic T-shirt, pajama bottoms . . . and was barefoot, quite an incongruous appearance for someone who had just single-handedly defeated a Goa'uld and captured an Al'Kesh. Speaking of the Goa'uld, she was beside him, her arm firmly in his grasp.

Looking around at all the weapons aimed directly at him, Daniel approached the group. "Hi, guys," he said.

Now that they were getting a better look at him, everyone could see the exhaustion on his face. He also looked pale, and there was a little blood on his shirt, probably from the scratches on his neck. His neck was also sporting some nasty bruises, as if someone had tried to strangle him.

Jack had zero doubt that Daniel was himself, and all he really wanted to do right now was hug the stuffing out of him, but he had to follow protocol. "Hey, Daniel," he greeted.

"Could somebody please take her?" Daniel asked, indicating Osiris. "She started to really get on my nerves about a hundred light-years ago."

Hammond motioned for two SFs to take the Goa'uld to the brig.

"Oh, and I'm probably going to have to remove those, um, cuffs."

Jack looked down and saw that Osiris' arms were bound with a band of gold metal. "What is that?"

"Well, it _was_ a ribbon device. I decided that was a much better use for it."

Jack nodded. "I agree."

As the Goa'uld was taken away, Hammond turned back to Daniel. "I'm sorry, Doctor Jackson, but until we can be absolutely certain that you have not been made a host, I will have to keep an armed guard on you. We will take you directly to the infirmary for an MRI."

Daniel nodded. "I understand, General."

A force of ten armed SFs went with SG-1 and Hammond to the infirmary. The SFs remained guarding Daniel as he was taken by Janet to the room where the MRI unit was. Remaining outside, the general and Daniel's teammates waited. Though it really wasn't all that long, it seemed like forever before Janet came back out. The SFs were with her.

"He's clear," she announced. "No sign of a Goa'uld."

The others visibly relaxed. Hammond dismissed the SFs.

"So, I should imagine that you're going to want to keep him overnight," Jack said.

"Yes, you're right about that," Janet confirmed, "though the first thing I need to do is get him off the MRI table." She smiled. "He fell asleep during the scan."

Sam smiled. "Poor Daniel. He must be so exhausted."

Janet nodded. "And, going by what I managed to drag out of him before he fell asleep, he used his abilities extensively. There is still a residual headache from it. The MRI didn't show any damage, but I will want to do a CT scan later. There are some things you can't see properly with an MRI."

Hammond nodded. "All right, Doctor. Get our boy situated in the infirmary. Let us know when he's awake. I should imagine that he has quite a tale to tell."

* * *

Sam dialed the number that she had memorized over the past couple of weeks. Pete's familiar voice answered the call.

"Hi, Pete. It's Sam."

"Sam! I just got back from Denver. Are you calling to say that you can't bear to be out of my presence a moment longer and want me to come over right away?"

"Um, I'm afraid not. I'm going to have to cancel our date tonight."

"How come?"

"Because something came up. I can't really tell you about it."

"More hush-hush stuff?" Pete's tone told Sam that he wasn't happy about the secrecy.

"I'm sorry, Pete. You know that there are things I can't tell you. It's a part of the job. Look, I have to go. I'll call you as soon as I can."

Pete hung up the phone and stared at it. His cop instincts were telling him that Samantha Carter was hiding something, something big.

Making a sudden decision, he dialed a number he knew well.

"Special Agent Farrity, please," he said to the FBI operator who answered.

* * *

Daniel could not describe the relief he felt when he woke up to see that he was in the base infirmary. The sight of the person sitting beside him, however, was a hundred times better.

Sam smiled down at him. "Hi. I thought it only fair that I sit at your bedside since you did the same for me not all that long ago."

"I can't think of a better sight to wake up to," Daniel murmured. The slight widening of Sam's eyes caused Daniel to blush, knowing he shouldn't have said that. "Um, how long did I sleep? The last thing I remember was being put in the MRI."

"Believe it or not, Daniel, you just about slept around the clock."

Daniel's eyes grew wide in surprise. "I did?"

"Uh huh. Twenty-two and a half hours, to be exact. You were utterly exhausted. All those nights without getting any deep sleep coupled with having to use your abilities so much pushed your body over the edge. Janet was happy that you were getting so much rest. However, the colonel kept muttering something about a coma."

Daniel smiled. "Well, I definitely feel better." He remembered something. "What about Osiris?"

"She's still in the brig. The Tok'ra will be arriving tomorrow to remove the symbiote. Oh, and we managed to get off those homemade handcuffs of yours, though it wasn't easy."

Daniel's eyes drifted away. "I almost can't believe it. Sarah's going to be free."

Sam laid her hand over his. "Yes, she is, Daniel. You saved her. She'll have a rough time ahead of her, but I'm sure she'll be okay."

"She wanted to die," Daniel murmured.

"What?"

The archeologist met Sam's eyes. "When I zatted Osiris, Sarah surfaced for a few seconds. She said that she'd rather be dead than remain under Osiris' control. God, Sam. What it must have been like for her, and for Skaara and . . . and Sha're. I knew that I couldn't let that happen to me, that I'd have to kill Sarah if Osiris tried to take me. I was even going to blow up the Al'Kesh if I had no other choice."

Sam's grip on Daniel's hand tightened, upset at the thought of Daniel killing himself to avoid being made a host. "Well, it didn't happen. You beat Osiris." She smiled. "You must have really ticked her off. She was nearly foaming at the mouth."

"Well, I think I might have been channeling Jack for a while," Daniel admitted.

Sam nodded knowingly. "Ah, that explains it."

The two friends laughed, which brought Janet over.

"Why, hello, Daniel," she greeted. "How nice of you to finally join us. Are you feeling better?"

"Absolutely. I'm ready to get out of here."

"Sorry, but first I need to make sure you're really okay."

"Oh. Right. Daniel Jackson, July 8th, and I'm in the infirmary of the SGC, in Cheyenne Mountain, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. There. That answer all the questions? Or do you have some new ones?"

Janet smiled. "Oh, plenty of them."

Sam stepped away to allow the doctor to examine Daniel. Jack and Teal'c came in and walked up to her.

"So, is he finally awake?" Jack asked her, glancing over at the closed curtains around Daniel's bed.

"Yes, sir. He woke up a few minutes ago. Janet is examining him now."

"It's about time."

"He needed the sleep, Colonel. Janet said that she was surprised Daniel didn't collapse from exhaustion. She's giving him mega doses of vitamins because he has some pretty severe deficiencies. She wants him to take some time off, at least a full week, preferably two."

"I can imagine how he's going to react to that."

Sam nodded. "Which is why she wants at least one of us to do the same. She figures that it'll be easier to get him to take the time off if someone takes it with him, maybe go with him somewhere. I couldn't take two weeks off, but I could probably manage one."

"What about your boyfriend? It seems like you've been going out with him almost every night. What would he think about you going off for a week?"

A startled expression crossed Sam's face. "To be honest, I didn't even think about Pete. I've been too concerned about Daniel. Pete took two weeks off from work to be with me. It wouldn't be fair for me to take off somewhere."

Jack hid the fact that he was pleased that Sam had totally forgotten about her boyfriend because of Daniel. That was a very promising sign.

"Well, I can take a few days off, and I bet that Teal'c here can, too," he said.

"Indeed, O'Neill. There is nothing to prevent me from doing so," Teal'c responded.

"Good! The three of us can go somewhere together. It's too bad that you can't join us, Carter. I know that Daniel would love to have you along."

"Yeah. I'm sorry, too."

"Yeah, well, I'm sure he will understand. You know him. There isn't a selfish bone in his body. He'd want you to do what makes you happy. God knows he's already sacrificed a lot for others."

Sam nodded, her expression pensive and more than a little guilty. Jack pretended to show interest in a piece of equipment, hoping that his attempt at reverse psychology and guilt-tripping worked. It was more important for Sam to go on this vacation with Daniel than anyone else since Jack was hoping that the leisure time together would make her forget about her boyfriend and start looking at Daniel as more than a friend. Jack didn't consider what he was doing as matchmaking. He was just trying to make two friends happy.

Sam was feeling horrible. This vacation for Daniel was a good idea, something he really needed. He had been through so much lately. Making it a vacation for the whole team would be even nicer for him. But, because of her obligation to Pete, she would have to back out. Obligation? Why should she feel an obligation to him? She'd known him for only a few weeks. She had known Daniel for over six and a half years.

Perhaps she could talk to Pete, explain that her friend needed her. If he really was a good guy, he'd understand. If not . . . then he wasn't the right guy for her anyway.

Janet finished with Daniel and told the rest of his team that they could visit with him.

"So, he's all right?" Jack asked the doctor.

"Yes, he's fine," she replied. "His luck is still holding out. Did Sam tell you what I said about Daniel taking some leave?"

"Yes, she did. You can count on us, Doc. We'll make sure he takes the time off."

"Well, good luck. I just told him, and, to say the least, he was not receptive to the idea."

Jack, Sam and Teal'c went over to Daniel.

"Hey there, Sleeping Beauty," the colonel said with a smile. "You going to stay conscious for a while?"

"I'll try," Daniel responded.

"So, I hear that you're going to be taking some time off."

"Not by choice. I have too much work to do to take time off right now."

"The work can wait, Daniel," Sam told him. "Your health is more important."

"I'm fine. As long as I don't get taken by any more Goa'uld, I can take it easy here at the SGC. Doing translations isn't strenuous."

"Except on your brain matter, which is one of the things you need to rest," Jack pointed out. "Come on, Daniel. You, me and Teal'c can all go have fun someplace together."

None of his teammates missed the brief glance that Daniel shot at Sam. That little look made the major feel even worse, like she was abandoning him when he needed her.

"Um . . . I might be able to come, too, sir," Sam said, just a little hesitantly. "I'd have to talk to Pete and see if he wouldn't mind changing his plans."

"I don't want you to cancel any plans you already have, Sam," Daniel immediately told her.

Jack gave her a look that clearly said, _"See? What did I tell you?"_

"No, it's okay, Daniel," Sam insisted. "We didn't have any real plans. It's just that Pete took two weeks off work so that we could spend some time together. We can probably work something out."

Daniel was getting ready to object again, but Sam didn't let him say anything.

"Just let me talk to him," she insisted.

The archeologist hesitated a moment, then nodded. "All right."

Jack smiled, extremely pleased. "So, does this mean that you're agreeing to take the time off?" he asked Daniel.

Daniel sighed. "Yes, Jack, but only a week. Not a day longer."

"Good enough."


	7. Chapter 7

CHAPTER SEVEN

Daniel's report on the events that resulted in his capture of Osiris left everyone shaking their heads in amazement. It greatly impressed the president, though he was also concerned by how close Daniel came to being made a host. He assured Hammond, however, that he would not reverse his decision to allow the archeologist to remain on SG-1. This newest incident had proven even more how valuable Daniel's abilities would be on missions.

A whole lot of people were also delighted about Daniel coming back with an Al'Kesh with Asgard beaming technology. There was a hitch that the command codes were all written in Ancient, meaning that Daniel would have to translate them, but it was still a major acquisition.

Much to the archeologist's dismay, he had apparently earned a new nickname on the base: Rambo Jackson. Jack explained that it was because of his one-man army act. How many other humans had bested a Goa'uld and captured an Al'Kesh all by themselves? Daniel thought that the colonel was having entirely too much fun over the whole thing.

Daniel was presently in his office, working on some translations that desperately needed doing. Janet had agreed to allow him to get the work done on condition that he go home at five o'clock on the dot and relaxed for the rest of the day. The fact that he had agreed to the vacation helped sway her as well.

The archeologist had to admit that a little time off would do him some good. He was feeling more than a bit frazzled, what with everything that had been happening in his life. He also had to admit that, though it would be great to go somewhere with Jack and Teal'c, it would be a lot less enjoyable if Sam wasn't with them. Yes, the fact that she had a boyfriend was still upsetting, but Daniel was now beginning to hope that maybe Jack was right, that he still had a chance with her.

Daniel wasn't certain from where this new feeling of hope had come. Perhaps it was because he'd actually managed to save Sarah. Tomorrow, she would be free and Osiris would be dead. Daniel knew that it would be a long time before Sarah was fully recovered from her ordeal, but he was determined to do all he could to help her. In fact, he was going to insist that his vacation be put on hold until after she was well on the road to recovery. There was no way that he was going to abandon her when she needed him.

Daniel had just completed one translation and started another when a very unwelcome visitor came walking in.

"Good morning, Doctor Jackson," said Major Rice.

"What do you want, Major?" Daniel asked bluntly, deciding that there was no good reason to be polite to the man who had wanted to experiment on him like a lab rat and force him to work for the NID.

"I just heard about your success in capturing Osiris. Congratulations. This does, however, prove that it is extremely dangerous not having you kept in a secured location. If you had been in such a facility, we'd have been aware of Osiris' visits to you immediately and captured her days ago."

"Forget it, Major Rice. It isn't going to work. General Hammond has already spoken to the president, who assured him that he was not going to change his mind about me staying on SG-1."

"Yes, I already assumed that. I came here about another . . . concern. It has come to my attention that your loyalty to Earth and the SGC has come into question."

Daniel's brow knit. "Excuse me?"

"Several weeks ago, you had every intention of abandoning your duty to Earth and the SGC and giving your services to the Tok'ra."

Daniel stared at him, feeling his anger starting to kindle. "I don't know how you found out about that, but I planned on making that offer in exchange for a Tok'ra ship to be sent out to look for the Prometheus."

"Yes, I am aware of that. It does not change the fact that you were going to skip out on Earth and go to work for the Tok'ra, who have proven themselves to be unreliable allies at best, a hindrance to how we do things at worst."

Daniel glared at the man. "Look, I don't know where you're going with all this, but let me make two things clear. First of all, I had no intention of abandoning Earth or the SGC. Though I was going to offer the Tok'ra my services, it would have been under the condition that it would not interfere with missions scheduled for SG-1. I wasn't planning on going off and living with them. I'd still have been here, doing my job most of the time. Secondly, though the Tok'ra do things differently from us and have, at times, not given us information we could have used, they have still been a valuable ally and have helped save quite a few human lives."

"Nevertheless, your intentions have made me and several other people begin to wonder where your loyalties lie. This is not the first time that you've chosen to help aliens instead of doing what was good for Earth."

Daniel had just about had enough of this. "Spit it out, Rice. Why are you really here?"

"To _suggest_ that you reconsider coming to work for the NID. If you come work for us, all these concerns about your loyalty might disappear."

Daniel's anger escalated dramatically. It was bad enough to be accused of being disloyal to Earth, but this really was the last straw. "I think you had better leave, Major Rice," he said.

"Doctor Jackson. . . ."

Daniel slowly got to his feet. "I asked you to leave. If you thought that you could come in here and blackmail me, you were sadly mistaken. I wonder what General Hammond and the president would think if they found out about this. I don't think they'd be very happy. Do you?"

"Don't threaten me, Doctor Jackson."

"Why not? Isn't that what you just did? Actually, if what you're accusing me of really was true, then you coming here and confronting me wouldn't have been very bright."

Rice glared at him. "And why is that?"

"Well, think about it. If you honestly believed that I have no loyalty to Earth, then, by extension, you'd have to believe that I would do whatever was necessary to serve my own purposes. If that was true, then it would be in my best interest to make sure that you didn't cause me any more problems. And, as we both know, it would be extremely easy for me to do that."

Rice stared at him, mouth hanging open, the tiniest hint of fear in his eyes. The fear was quickly replaced by anger. "You're bluffing," he said.

"No, I'm not, Major. I never said that I'd do something like that. I said that, if I really was disloyal to Earth, as you claim, then I wouldn't hesitate to get rid of you. But, since I'm _not_ that kind of person, as you well know, you don't have to worry. However, I _will_ report this to General Hammond if you ever try something like this again or if you cause any trouble for me. Now, please leave my office. I may not kill you, but that doesn't mean that I won't throw you out."

"This isn't over, Jackson. You have no proof of what I just said, and I will deny it if you tell General Hammond. I, on the other hand, have plenty of proof for my allegations. Sooner or later, you will come to work for the NID or you will be fired."

Turning, Rice strode out of the room.

Infuriated, Daniel paced around his office. He couldn't help but wonder if there was some truth to Rice's statement. Not the part about Daniel being disloyal to Earth and the SGC. It was the other part he wondered about, the last thing that the man had said. Could Rice really make people believe that Daniel's loyalty couldn't be trusted?

Daniel remembered his first encounter with Colonel Simmons, when all the members of SG-1 were basically brainwashed into believing that there was a fifth man on their team, when, in fact, the so-called fifth man was an alien. Simmons had virtually accused Daniel of being sympathetic toward the Goa'uld. Now, Major Rice comes along and accuses him of being more interested in helping aliens than helping Earth. Simmons' accusations never resulted in anything. Would Rice's?

Deciding that he shouldn't let it bother him, Daniel sat back down. It wasn't until then that he thought of something. He'd been furious with Rice, yet there had been no repeat of the incident that happened with Jack. Maybe Janet was right. Perhaps the exhaustion _had_ been a big contributing factor.

Choosing not to think about it anymore, Daniel got back to work.

* * *

Pete pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant and got out. As he approached the entrance, he noticed a familiar face.

"Hey, Chuck," he greeted with a smile.

Officer Charles Greenburg smiled and shook Pete's hand. "Hi, Pete. What are you still doing around here? I thought you wrapped up your case several days ago."

"I did. I met someone and decided to take some time off to get to know her better."

Chuck laughed. "Lucky dog. Hey, did you hear about that weird kidnapping case?"

"No, I didn't."

"Some guy named Doctor Daniel Jackson apparently got snatched out of his house. There were signs of a big struggle in the bedroom. Neighbors didn't notice anybody come in or go out after Jackson got home, but that isn't all that strange. What _is_ strange is that the house was all locked up tight from the inside. Nobody could figure out how Jackson was taken out of the house. Neighbors reported seeing a bright flash of light in the bedroom, then silence after that. What makes things even more interesting is that the military came in and took over the case."

"Is this Jackson military?"

"No, he's a civilian, but he does work for the military. MacGregor was on the case, and he was not happy about having to turn it over. But when you get a call from the governor himself telling you to do so, there's not much you can say about it. The two people who showed up and took over were from the Air Force, a Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter. Whoever their superior is, he must have a lot of pull."

Pete had to hide his surprise at the sound of Sam's name. How was she involved in this? Wait a minute. Daniel Jackson. Could he be the Daniel that Sam talked about?

"So, have you heard anything else?" he asked, trying not to show how interested he was.

"Nope. Once the military took over, we were cut completely out of the loop."

"Interesting."

"Yeah, isn't it? Derrick Meeks thinks that Jackson was abducted by aliens, and the military is doing a big coverup, like they did at Roswell."

"Meeks is a fruitcake," Pete said with a laugh.

"Yes, but you have to admit that the case is kind of weird."

Pete nodded. "Well, it was great to see you again, Chuck."

"You too."

Pete got some food to go and drove to his destination. He parked the car and started eating, his eyes on the house across the street. He'd been on a lot of stakeouts during his years as a cop, but this was the first time that he'd staked out a girlfriend's place. He was here last night as well, but Sam never came home. If she had, he had been intending to follow her to work in the morning to see if she really did work in Cheyenne Mountain.

The background check that Pete's friend with the FBI conducted confirmed that Sam was involved in a heck of a lot more than deep space radar telemetry. Dan Farrity believed that it was something like Black Ops or some covert unit. He had advised Pete to back off, saying that this was way out of the cop's league. But Pete didn't want to back off. He was determined to find out what the woman he was dating really did for the government. However, this new information about Sam and her friend, Daniel, had changed his plans. Now, he intended to confront Sam openly and find out what was going on.

Pete had been sitting there for two hour when Sam came home. As soon as she was parked and out of the car, he got out and approached her.

"Pete, what are you doing here?" Sam asked. "I said I'd call when I could talk."

"I'm sorry, Sam, but we need to talk now."

"What's going on?"

"Let's go inside."

Sam studied Pete's expression, seeing the determination there. Nodding, she led him into the house.

"Okay, what's this all about?" she asked.

"Have you found him yet?"

"What? Found who?"

"Your friend, Daniel Jackson."

Sam stared at him in astonishment. "How did you know about him?"

"I happened to bump into a friend, a cop with the Colorado Springs department. He told me all about this mysterious kidnapping case involving a Doctor Jackson who works for the military. He said that you were involved."

Sam walked into the kitchen and got a glass of water to hide how upset she was. She had not anticipated this happening, and she didn't know what to do now.

"Sam, I know that what you've been telling me about your job with the military is a lie," Pete said.

"Pete, I can't talk about it. I told you that already."

"I'm sorry, but that's not good enough. So, what is it? Black Ops? Covert Ops? Some top secret unit? It's gotta be something pretty big and super secret."

Sam slowly turned around and stared at him narrowly. "Why would you come to that conclusion? What would make you think. . . ." Her eyes widened. "You did a check on me, didn't you."

The cop didn't answer, which confirmed Sam's suspicion.

"Dammit, Pete! What gave you the right to do that?"

"You wouldn't tell me!"

"Because it's classified! Don't you understand that? What, you think that just because you're dating me, it means that I should spill my guts to you about everything? How egotistical can you be?"

Pete suddenly knew that he'd made a very big mistake. He had to fix this or he was going to lose Sam. He stepped toward her.

"Sam, I'm sorry. Yeah, okay, it was stupid. I'm a cop, and I couldn't stand not knowing. My curiosity and cop instincts got the better of me. Just call me a pig-headed idiot. I promise that I'll never ask you anything about your work again. I swear. Forgive me?" He laid his hand on her arm. His heart sank when she pushed it away.

"No, Pete, I don't forgive you. You betrayed my trust by doing what you did. Not only that, your actions also prove that you don't trust me. If you did, you'd have accepted that I couldn't tell you about my job because of security issues and left it at that. Instead, you went behind my back and tried to find out on your own. I can't date a man who would do something like that."

"Sam, please. Won't you give me a second chance?"

Sam shook her head. "I could have forgiven you for a lot of things, Pete, but not for betraying my trust like that. I was already starting to wonder if things were going to work out between us, and, now, I have my answer. It's over."

"Sam."

"Please leave. Now."

The steel in Sam's voice and the cold glint in her eyes made Pete realize that nothing he said or did was going to fix this. Their relationship was over, and he had no one to blame but himself.

Sam and Pete were both startled by a knock on the door. Sam answered it. Pete saw that the visitor was a brown-haired, blue-eyed man with glasses whose neck was marred by bruises and what looked like scratches. The expression of mild concern on the man's features deepened dramatically upon seeing Sam's face.

"Sam? What's wrong?" he asked immediately.

"It's okay, Daniel. Everything's fine," she told him, not sounding very convincing.

At the sound of the name, Pete's gaze sharpened. So, this was Daniel. Pete didn't spare much thought about the obvious fact that, if Daniel _had_ been kidnapped, he'd apparently been retrieved. At that moment, the cop was more interested in studying the man Sam had called a really good friend. Around six feet tall, with a strong, well-muscled body, Daniel Jackson had a face that Pete could not deny was handsome. He was just as Sam had described, and Pete experienced a sharp jab of jealousy even though he no longer had the right to feel it.

All these things passed through the cop's mind within the space of about three seconds, which was all the time he had before Daniel's eyes turned toward him. For a split second, something flashed across Daniel's face that made Pete wonder if the man's feelings for Sam were more than friendship. That expression, however, was quickly replaced by something else, something that made Pete stiffen. Some indefinable instinct beyond conscious thought sent a tiny frisson of fear through the cop, warning him of danger. A brief wish that he had his gun flitted through his mind.

Feeling surprisingly nervous, Pete did not move as Daniel stepped past Sam and entered the house. The man's expression was hard and intense, blue eyes locked onto Pete like the laser sight of a rifle.

"Sam? Is there a problem here?" Daniel's voice was very quiet but held a note that Pete could not mistake for anything but a challenge.

Sam laid a hand on Daniel's arm. "It's all right, Daniel. Pete and I just . . . had an argument. He was just leaving."

Daniel's eyes remained on Pete, and the cop had a feeling that, if he or anyone else ever tried to hurt Sam, nothing would protect them from this man.

"Please go, Pete," Sam said. "We have nothing more to talk about."

Choosing to exit gracefully, Pete headed for the door, passing by Daniel and Sam. The man's gaze did not leave him. Pete walked to his car, got in and started the engine. Glancing over at Sam's house, he saw that both Daniel and Sam were outside on the porch, watching him. With a last look at the woman he had fallen in love with and had now lost, Pete pulled away from the curb and drove away.

* * *

Daniel watched Pete Shanahan drive away. It wasn't until the car had disappeared from sight that he allowed himself to relax. The moment Sam opened the door, he'd known that something was very wrong. Actually, he'd had an odd feeling even before then that something wasn't quite right with her, which was the reason why he detoured to her place.

As soon as Daniel saw the man in Sam's living room, he'd known that it was Pete, and he'd felt a brief moment of jealousy. On the heels of that came something else, his instincts or perhaps his sixth sense telling him that Pete was the reason why Sam was so upset, that the cop had done something that hurt her in some way. An intense feeling of protectiveness had arisen within Daniel, stronger than anything he'd ever felt before. All his senses went on high alert, his body tensing and his mind preparing to take Pete down if the man made any threatening moves. Fortunately, that hadn't been necessary.

Daniel turned to Sam, who was watching him. "Sam, what happened? And please don't tell me it was nothing."

With a little sigh, Sam motioned for Daniel to come back into the house. She headed for the couch, thinking about what just happened. Daniel had just gone alpha male. Okay, maybe that wasn't quite accurate, but there was no doubt that he had been in full "hurt her and I'll rip your throat out" mode. That kind of reaction was something that Sam would expect from Jack, but not from the peace-loving Daniel, who usually preferred to use words in volatile situations. What was really scary was that, if Pete had actually tried something, he wouldn't have lasted five seconds.

Sam had known for a long time that Daniel had changed over the years. His naivete was left behind long ago, his gentleness tempered with the strength of a warrior, his idealism diluted by far too much pain, disappointment and loss. He had grown, strengthened and matured a great deal in these six and a half years, and, now, Sam had seen another facet added to the progressively more complex psyche of Daniel Jackson. Were his psychic abilities responsible for it or was it something else?

Putting that question out of her mind, Sam sat on the couch, Daniel settling beside her. She knew that she was going to have to tell him what happened. He wouldn't give up until she did.

"Pete did a background check on me," she told him.

Daniel's face showed his surprise. "Why?"

"Because he couldn't stand the fact that I wouldn't tell him all about what I do for the military. I had told him that there were things I couldn't talk about, but he couldn't accept that. He's suspected for a while that the cover story was just that, a cover story, and I guess he decided to find out the truth."

"So, he went behind your back and looked at your file?"

"He couldn't have gotten my file, not the real one. All he would have been able to find was the cover story about deep space radar telemetry and information on me that was not connected to the Stargate Program. I doubt he did this himself. He wouldn't have the proper access. Whoever _did_ do it, if they were smart enough or looked closely enough, they would probably have figured out that something was fishy. In fact, they _must_ have, judging by what Pete said. He wanted to know if I was in Black Ops or some covert unit."

"He had no right to do that, Sam," Daniel told her, angry about what Pete had done. "He betrayed your trust."

Sam stared down at her hands. "I know, and, on top of that, he showed that he didn't trust me. I couldn't . . . I can't forgive him for that. I told him it was over between us."

Daniel took Sam's hand in his. "I'm sorry, Sam," he murmured.

A single tear slid down Sam's cheek. Daniel pulled her into his arms and held her close. She wrapped her arms around his waist tightly. Daniel's heart ached for Sam, feeling her pain as if it was his own. But there was another part of him, a part deep inside, that was rejoicing, and that shamed him. He shouldn't be happy about what happened since it was hurting Sam, but he couldn't help it. The fact that she no longer had a boyfriend meant that there was more of a chance for him. Right now, though, what was most important was helping Sam get through this.

"I'm sorry this happened, Sam," Daniel told her. "I know you cared a lot about him. I wish there was something I could do to make you feel better."

Sam drew back and looked at the face of her dearest friend, seeing there how much he cared. A powerful wave of love for him swept through her.

"You _are_ making me feel better, Daniel," she told him. "You being here makes me feel better."

Daniel gently wiped the tears from her face. "I'll always be here for you, Sam."

As she sat there in Daniel's arms, Sam realized that, as long as she had him and the rest of her team, she could survive anything. Yes, the end of her relationship with Pete hurt, but she was going to be okay. She still had what was most important in her life, and that's all that really mattered.

Daniel stayed with Sam the rest of the evening, trying his very best to cheer her up. He fixed dinner for them, then ran down to the store afterwards for some fudge ice cream and chocolate syrup, of which they both ate entirely too much. He talked endlessly about dozens of subjects, taking her mind off her sadness. By the time he left at ten o'clock, Sam loved him even more than she had before, thinking that nobody could have a better friend than him.

As Sam lay in bed, thoughts of Pete returned, and she found herself crying again, wishing that things could have been different. The tears finally dried, however, and she drifted off to sleep, her dreams not of Pete, but of a man with beautiful blue eyes and a smile that filled her heart with warmth and love.

* * *

So sorry to those of you who wanted to see Pete meet a horrible, bloody end. LOL Though I really didn't like Pete's actions in Chimera, I didn't think he deserved such a fate. However, he is history, as far as Sam's concerned.


	8. Chapter 8

CHAPTER EIGHT

Daniel entered the brig, his teammates at his side. Osiris had asked to see him. Though he would rather have had nothing more to do with her, he was a little curious about what she wanted.

"Daniel Jackson. I am pleased that you have agreed to speak with me," the Goa'uld said.

"What do you want, Osiris?" Daniel asked.

She looked at the others with an expression of scorn. "What I have to say is to you alone."

"Too bad, because we're not going anywhere," Jack told her.

Daniel looked at him. "It's all right, Jack. She can't hurt me."

"Daniel."

"It'll be fine. I'll be out in a few minutes."

Jack hesitated before nodding. He, Sam and Teal'c then left. Daniel turned back to Osiris.

"Why do you allow those who are inferior command you?" the Goa'uld asked.

"I don't consider them to be inferior. They're human beings, just like I am, like Sarah is."

"Your powers make you superior. They are nothing, but you have the power of a god."

"Ah, now I'm back to being a god, huh?"

Osiris smiled. "Your power makes you great, Daniel. It could destroy the Goa'uld."

Daniel did not miss the fact that Osiris had called him by his first name. Already guessing that she was going to try to talk him into something, he remained silent.

"I know that is what you and your people want," she continued, "to see an end to the Goa'uld. I could help you. If you release me, we could work together to destroy the other System Lords. With my knowledge and your power, we would be unstoppable."

"And what would you get out of it?"

"I would only ask that, once Anubis is defeated, I be given the territories and armies he possesses. Such a small thing to ask." Osiris smiled again. "As a gesture of my good faith, I will even move to another host so that Sarah will be free. I know that is what you desire."

Daniel shook his head slightly. "Even if I was interested in your offer, Osiris, I know exactly what would happen if I took it. If we did actually manage to get rid of all the other System Lords, including Anubis, and you took over control of Anubis' armies and territories, sooner or later you'd target Earth. You wouldn't be able to stand having us around, and you'd know that, once we were gone, you could have everything, which is what you want. No Goa'uld can ever be satisfied unless they have it all. Not only that, you'd want revenge against me for beating you. So, no deal, Osiris. I'm not that stupid. Now, if this is the only reason why you wanted to see me, I'm just going to leave, because I have much better things to do."

Osiris' expression changed. "I will see you die, Doctor Jackson," she said, her voice now cold, hard and full of hatred. "I will see you suffer slowly and painfully."

Just then, two Tok'ra came in. Daniel met the Goa'uld's eyes one last time. "No, Osiris, you won't." Then he walked out of the room.

A few hours later, Daniel entered the infirmary. He went to the bed where Sarah lay. Sitting on the edge, he gazed down at her. She was free. Sarah was free. Though delighted, Daniel's joy was bittersweet. He was glad that he'd managed to do things right and make it possible for the Goa'uld to be removed from Sarah, but, at the same time, he couldn't help but think about how he failed to do the same for Sha're.

At that moment, Sarah awoke with a start.

"It's all right. You're safe." he told her soothingly, reaching out to touch her.

"Daniel?"

"I'm here," he said as she sat up. "It's all over." Their arms came around each. "You're free."

Sarah began to cry. "I'm so sorry."

"Shhh. It's not your fault.

"I couldn't stop it."

"We're gonna get you through this."

Daniel held onto her, stroking her back comfortingly. Now would come the hard part, trying to help Sarah recover from her ordeal and cope with what happened. He swore to himself that he would do whatever he could to get her through it.

* * *

Sam watched Daniel and Sarah from the doorway of the infirmary, surprised at the jealousy that she was feeling. Why on Earth was she jealous? There was no reason for it. For one thing, Daniel was just a friend, not a boyfriend, and, for another, he was simply giving Sarah comfort. They weren't romantically involved, hadn't been for years.

That's when an unpleasant thought came to Sam. Just because they weren't involved now didn't mean that they might not start seeing each other again. Unlike her situation with Pete, Daniel wouldn't have to keep the Stargate a secret from Sarah. She already knew all about it and the Goa'uld. That fact would definitely be an advantage to having a relationship with her.

Sam didn't understand why the thought of Daniel becoming involved with Sarah bothered her so much. He certainly deserved to have someone in his life, someone to love like that. So why didn't she like the idea of him renewing his romance with Sarah? Maybe it was just because Sam would always equate Sarah with Osiris.

Her jealousy couldn't possibly have anything to do with her own failed relationship with Pete, could it? Could she be so petty that she wouldn't want to see Daniel have a successful relationship with someone just because her own attempt at a relationship had failed? Sam didn't want to believe that.

Janet came up to Sam, her eyes on Sarah. "She's going to have a long, hard road ahead of her."

"Yes, I can imagine so. I remember what it was like to deal with having been taken as a host, and I was one for only a short while, and it was to a Tok'ra, not a Goa'uld. She's been a host for three years. Who knows how many awful things the symbiote made her do during that time."

"Daniel is determined to see her through it the whole way. He wants to postpone his vacation until after she's well enough to handle things on her own."

"But that could be weeks, even months."

Janet sighed. "I know."

Sam shook her head. "He's always doing that. He's always putting other people ahead of himself. Sometimes, I wish he wouldn't. He has gotten hurt so many times because of it."

"Yet he'll keep right on doing it."

"I know."

Janet turned to the major. "Are _you_ okay, Sam?"

"Me? Sure. Why wouldn't I be?"

"I don't know. You tell me. When I saw you this morning, I could tell that something was wrong."

Sam gave a deep sigh. "I broke up with Pete yesterday."

"Why?"

"He ran a background check on me."

"What? Why did he do that?"

"Because he couldn't accept that I wouldn't tell him all about my job. He's a cop, and he let his curiosity take over."

Janet touched her friend's arm. "I'm sorry, Sam."

"Me too. But I know that it wouldn't have worked between us anyway. I was already having doubts before this happened."

"Oh?"

"Don't get me wrong. I liked Pete a lot, and I really enjoyed our time together, but we couldn't connect at all when it came to my love for science, and that is such an important facet of my life that I think that, sooner or later, the fact that I couldn't share that interest with him would have gotten frustrating for me. And there were other big differences between us that might have caused friction as well. I need to find someone who shares my passion for science or at least somebody I can talk to about it without them spacing off, or cutting me off, or changing the subject because they're bored or don't understand. I need a guy who really understands me and likes all of me for who and what I am, someone I can connect with, both emotionally and mentally."

Janet couldn't help but look over at the two people across the room. Everything that Sam had just said she wanted in a man was sitting right there beside Sarah Gardner. Janet knew what kind of friendship Sam had with Daniel. It was a very special and extremely close one. They were soul mates. Many people thought that you could only be soul mates with someone you were in love with, but that wasn't true, though Janet hoped that Sam _was_ in love with Daniel, just as he was in love with her.

"Do you think that I'm asking for the impossible?" Sam queried.

Janet turned back to Sam, extremely tempted to tell her friend that she didn't have to look any further than the man sitting across the room. But she didn't have the right to do so. However, it didn't hurt to drop little hints.

"No, not at all," she replied. "I think that you could find the perfect guy if you just look in the right place. For all you know, he might be right under your nose."

Daniel got up and came toward them, a frown on his face. Sarah appeared to have gone back to sleep.

"What's wrong?" Sam asked him.

"Sarah told me that she thinks it would be best if she tried to get through this without my help," Daniel replied.

"Why?"

"Because I remind her so strongly of what happened to her. Whenever she sees me, she remembers what Osiris did to me, and that makes her think of everything else. I guess I can understand her feelings. Maybe it _would_ be best for her to get help from someone who has no connection to what happened to her."

The doctor nodded. "I think you may be right."

"Do me a favor though, Janet."

"What's that?"

"Don't have her talk to MacKenzie. She needs someone who cares."

"I couldn't agree more."

Daniel and Sam left the infirmary and went to his office.

"So, how are you doing?" Sam asked. "This whole thing can't be easy on you."

Daniel sat down. "Oh, I'm all right, glad it's over."

"Yeah, I bet. I'm really happy that you saved Sarah, Daniel. It must make you feel good."

Daniel nodded slightly. "Yes, it does, though. . . ."

"You can't help but think about Sha're," Sam guessed.

"Yeah." The archeologist gave a sigh. "But I can't live my life dwelling on all the 'if-onlys' anymore. I did that for a lot of years, and it just made me miserable."

"I know what you mean. I have a whole lot of 'if-onlys' in my life."

Daniel turned searching eyes on her. "Is Pete one of them?"

Sam thought about it before answering. "Yes and no. I'm sorry that things didn't work out between us, and if it had ended another way than it did, I'd have been really upset. But it makes me feel better that it didn't end because I couldn't make it work," Sam smiled, "or because Pete ended up dead like just about every other guy I've been interested in over the last six plus years."

Daniel also smile. "Yes, that is a plus, especially for Pete."

Sam's smile changed to one of gratitude. "Thank you for staying with me yesterday. It helped a lot."

"I'm glad that I _could_ help." Daniel's expression became very serious. "I'd do anything for you, Sam. You know that, don't you?"

Sam nodded. "I know, Daniel. I feel the same way."

The archeologist's eyes dropped from hers, focusing on something that was on the desk.

Sam took a seat, deciding to talk about something happier. "So, have you had any thoughts on where we're all going on our vacation?"

Daniel looked at her closely. "We?"

Sam smiled. "Uh huh."

"I wasn't sure if you'd want to go, considering what happened with Pete."

"No, I want to go, Daniel. It'll be fun."

The linguist rewarded her statement with a big smile. "Good. It will be great to have you with us. As to where we're going, I haven't given it much thought. Jack will probably nix just about every idea I have."

As if speaking his name had conjured him up, Daniel at that moment felt Jack approaching. Teal'c was with him.

"Hey, kids," the colonel greeted as he and the Jaffa came in a moment later. "Whatcha doin'?"

"Actually, sir, we were talking about where we're all going to go on our vacation," Sam replied.

Jack looked at her sharply. "_All_ of us?"

"All of us."

A big smile lit Jack's face. "Sweet. So, where _are_ we going?"

"I don't know, Jack," Daniel answered. "I guess we need to decide on a place that will make us all happy."

Jack shook his head. "No, this is for you, Daniel. You decide."

Daniel's eyebrows rose. "You mean you'll agree with whatever I decide?"

"Yep."

"I can pick anywhere?"

"Anywhere. Hammond said that we can even go off-world if we want to. He figures that the SGC owes you at least that much. Remember, though, that we only have a week, that is unless you've changed your mind about that."

"No, a week is long enough."

"Okay, so what's it gonna be? Where are we going to go?"

Daniel thought about it for a while. "Fishing," he finally replied.

The mouths of his teammates all fell open, even Teal'c's.

"Did you say . . . fishing?" Jack asked, hardly believing what he'd heard.

"Uh huh. Well, actually, I doubt that _I'd_ be doing much fishing, but _you_ can. Sam and I can go exploring, I'll have some artifacts to play with, and I'm sure that Teal'c will be able to find something to do, too."

"Daniel, where are you thinking of going?" Sam asked.

The archeologist smiled. "M4A-826"

Sam also got a smile. "Daniel, that's perfect!"

Confused, Jack looked at the two scientists. "What? What's perfect? Which planet is M4A-826"

"Remember the amusement park, sir?"

"The. . . ." Jack's eyes widened in remembrance. "You mean that place that was sitting right on the shore of that big, beautiful lake?"

Daniel nodded, smiling. "The lake with all the fish."

Jack's face split into a grin. "Daniel, I gotta hand it to you. I couldn't think of a better place to go."

And so it was that, two days later, SG-1 went to M4A-826. The planet was one of the addresses that Jack had input into the computer when he was carrying the knowledge of the Ancients in his mind, which meant that it was one the Goa'uld never visited. About a mile from the gate, there were some ruins that looked as if they had once been some kind of amusement park. SG-1 only had two days to explore the place last time, and Daniel always wanted to go back. So did Jack, but not because of the ruins. It was because of the lake beside which the ruins sat He'd wanted to fish that lake in the worst way, especially after he caught sight of the size fish it contained. Now, they were going to have a whole week there, and they weren't on a mission.

Upon arriving, the first thing SG-1 did was find a good place to set up camp. Because they were on vacation, they were not going to be living on MREs. Jack had brought a camp stove and lots of real food. He'd wanted to bring a BBQ grill along, too, but Hammond flat out refused to allow him to haul something like that through the gate. As it was, the general made noises about the four-man inflatable raft Jack had insisted on bringing, not to mention the lounge chairs, fishing gear, beer-filled cooler, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. Because of all the camping equipment and everything else, it had been necessary to take a FRED along to carry it all. When Hammond started to complain, Jack just pointed at Daniel. The general took one look at the happy, excited glow on the archeologist's face and shut up.

The moment camp was set up, Jack was off fishing, claiming that he was going to catch their lunch. Sam, Daniel and Teal'c headed off to explore the ruins. When Teal'c chose to linger in the alien version of a fun house, Daniel and Sam moved on ahead. They discovered a maze and decided to split up and see who could find the end first.

After wandering around for about fifteen minutes and running into numerous dead ends, Daniel finally spotted the exit. He ran for it . . . and collided right into Sam, who had also been running to the same destination.

The two scientists nearly fell, grabbing onto each other to stay upright. His arms around Sam, Daniel looked into her eyes. The desire to kiss her rose up so suddenly and strongly that it took every ounce of willpower he possessed to successfully fight the urge. Instead, he released her and stepped back a pace.

Sam stood unmoving for several seconds. The feelings that just went whirling through her had left her deeply shaken. She had just come so close to kissing Daniel that it actually scared her to think about it. She had wanted so badly to pull his mouth down to hers and kiss him till they both couldn't breathe. Sam could not remember ever being hit that hard with desire. Feeling his firm, muscular body against hers, his arms tight around her, had sent her temperature up several degrees. And his eyes. They'd fairly burned into her, like twin lasers cutting through flesh and bone and into her soul. That look had nearly made her lose her head, sending a feeling rushing through her unlike anything she'd ever before experienced.

Desperate to put out of her mind what just happened, Sam said, "I guess it's a tie."

"What? Oh, um, yes, I guess it is," Daniel responded distractedly. "Come on. Let's get out of here."


	9. Chapter 9

CHAPTER NINE

Jack watched Daniel, Sam and Teal'c as they approached. They had just spent several hours in the ruins, and, apparently, they'd had a good time, or at least Daniel and Sam had. Big smiles were gracing the faces of the two scientists, and they were talking excitedly about something. It was a sight that made Jack happy.

When he found out that Sam had broken up with Pete and the reason for it, his first reaction was a desire to find the cop and punch his lights out for hurting Sam like that. His second reaction was a silent shout for joy. It was Daniel who imparted the news, and Jack had asked him if he now intended to do something about his feeling for the major, such as asking her out on a date. Daniel's reply was that he wasn't sure yet but that he'd think about it. Jack had been afraid that the archeologist would chicken out and never say anything. Seeing them now, though, perhaps there was hope that Daniel would let his feelings for Sam be known. It was just a question of when.

The three members of SG-1 came up to Jack.

"So, did you catch anything?" Daniel asked, a hint of doubt in his voice.

Jack grinned. "As a matter of fact. . . ." He opened up the cooler he'd brought to hold any fish he caught and showed his teammates the three beauties he'd managed to land.

"Wow. You actually caught some," Sam said.

Jack gave her a glare at the note of surprise in her voice. "Yes, Carter, I did, and, if you'll give me a bit more time, I'll catch another one so that we can each have one."

"I couldn't possibly eat a whole fish, Colonel."

"Don't worry about that. I'm sure that Teal'c will eat whatever you don't."

"That is if Teal'c likes it," Daniel said.

"Who wouldn't like freshly caught trout?" Jack looked at the fish, which bore no resemblance to trout or any other fish he'd ever seen. "Or whatever these are."

"Are we sure they'll be safe to eat?" Sam asked.

"Carter, there's no way that I'm not eating what I catch. If you don't want to take the chance, you can eat something else, though you'll really be missing out. I, for one, am looking forward to cooking these babies up."

Daniel's eyes were full of humor. "Proud of yourself, Jack?"

"O'Neill does, indeed, appear to be quite pleased with himself over his successful capture of these aquatic creatures," Teal'c stated.

"Hey, watch it or I'm going to make you two clean the fish," Jack groused. He then told all three of them to leave him be so that he could get back to his fishing.

Jack did manage to land another fish, and all four of them dined on the fruits of his labors for lunch.

The colonel patted his stomach contentedly, an expression of smug satisfaction on his face. "What did I tell ya? Pure ambrosia."

"Well, I wouldn't go _that_ far, Jack," Daniel responded, "but, yes, it was pretty good."

"Yes, it was," Sam agreed.

"Indeed," Teal'c added.

Jack's smile turned into a grin. "Great!" He stood and picked up his fishing rod. "I'd better get busy catching our dinner."

"Dinner? Jack, you don't expect us to eat fish for every meal, do you?" Daniel asked.

"Well, no, of course not. We'll eat other stuff for breakfast."

"Sir, as much as I enjoyed the fish, I really don't want to eat it twice a day for the next week," Sam told her C.O.

"Why not? You go on a fishing trip, you catch fish, you eat fish. That's the whole point."

"Did you not say that fish are not important in fishing?" Teal'c reminded him.

Daniel and Sam fought back smiles as Jack tried to figure out how to answer.

"Uh, well, yes, I did say that, and it is true," he finally replied, "but if you _do_ manage to catch fish, then you're supposed to eat them."

"Why don't you just catch and release, Jack," Daniel suggested. "Lots of fishermen do that." When Jack began to object, Daniel continued. "I'm with Sam. I don't want to eat fish twice a day every day we're here. We brought a whole bunch of other food with us. There's no point in letting it go to waste."

Jack heaved a big sigh. "Oh, all right. If you want to eat something else for dinner, go ahead. Now, if you will excuse me, I'm going to go catch _my_ dinner."

For the rest of the afternoon, as Jack fished, the others continued to explore the ruins. Sam stayed with Daniel as he went into full archeologist mode and tried to figure out the culture that had built the amusement park. She found herself fascinated by the way his mind worked to piece together all the information and clues he gathered and create a logical theory about who the people that had lived there were.

"The roots of the amusement park industry can be traced clear back to medieval Europe," he explained. "Places called pleasure gardens were built on the outskirts of many major European cities. They had live entertainment, games, dancing, fireworks and primitive amusement rides. They were extremely popular up until the 1700's, when a lot of them closed due to political unrest. Not all of them did, however. One is actually still in operation today, north of Copenhagen. It opened in 1583 and is the world's oldest operating amusement park. The thing is, though, that stuff like this," he waved his hand around at the huge rides, many of which looked similar to roller coasters, "didn't start coming into existence until the mid ninetieth century, although they had large ice slides in Russia as far back as the seventeenth century."

"So, what are you saying?" Sam asked.

"I find it hard to believe that the Goa'uld were still taking people from Earth in the mid-1800's, which means that this culture developed this kind of amusement park independently from Earth." He gestured at some faded writing on a sign. "I don't recognize this language at all. I have no clue to its origin. Considering that this was a gate address not included in the Abydos cartouche, it could mean that this was a completely alien society, though, judging by what we've seen, they must have been humanoid and around our size."

Sam nodded, agreeing with him. "Any idea why this place was abandoned?"

"Well, it wasn't attacked. There's no sign of damage anywhere. Judging by the condition of the ruins, I'd say that this place was abandoned around a hundred years ago. My best guess would be that they either simply left this area or that they left the planet. I do have another theory, though."

"What's that?"

"On the UAV footage, we saw several other large ruins, but none of them looked like cities, and there is absolutely no sign of any kind of habitations in the area, with the exception of those buildings that looked like they might have been hotels of some kind. That could only mean that nobody lived here, which would, in turn, mean that the people who came to the amusement park were transported from some other area. The closeness of this place to the Stargate makes me wonder if it was visited by people on other planets."

"Are you saying that you think this whole planet was like some kind of vacation spot, that no one actually lived here permanently?"

Daniel shrugged. "I don't know. I just know that it appears that there wasn't a community living within the area that the UAV covered. But, if this _was_ just some kind of . . . of pleasure planet, it may be that whoever developed it simply stopped coming here for some reason."

Sam looked around with new eyes. "Wow. A pleasure planet. And here I thought that the people of _Earth_ loved to have fun."

Daniel grinned. "Come on. Let's go see what else we can find."

With a matching grin, Sam took off with Daniel to continue their exploration.

* * *

Jack felt suspiciously like a pleased papa as he watched Sam and Daniel chatting animatedly by the fire. It was really good to see his 'kids' so happy, and it was especially good to see Daniel and Sam spending such quality time together.

As he watched them, Jack had noticed Daniel gazing at Sam more than once with an expression of adoration on his face. It had always been when she wasn't looking, but Jack was positive now that the archeologist would soon make his move on her, perhaps even before this little vacation was over.

While everyone else ate cold fried chicken for dinner, the colonel dined on the fish that he caught, repeatedly remarking on how good it tasted.

"I'm glad you like the fish so much, Jack," Daniel said in amusement. "I, on the other hand, am looking forward to a nice juicy steak tomorrow night."

Jack sat up a little straighter. "Steak?"

"Uh huh. Four of the steaks we brought aren't frozen, so we'll have to eat them soon."

Jack made a dismissive noise. "You can have steak any old time. How often do you get the chance to eat freshly caught bass?"

"I thought they were like trout, sir," Sam said, also amused.

"Whatever. It's fish, caught today. It doesn't get any better than that."

Daniel and Sam shared a smile, then resumed eating their chicken.

The next day, the scientists decided to go for a hike. They invited Teal'c along, but he had been talked into trying his hand at fishing in a body of water that actually had fish. Leaving the Jaffa to suffer the colonel's obsession alone, Daniel and Sam filled their backpacks with what they thought they'd need and went hiking up into the nearby hills. It was a wonderful day, the archeologist and astrophysicist thoroughly enjoying their time together. Sam found herself wowed yet again by Daniel's vast storehouse of knowledge, only, this time, by his knowledge of geology.

"I didn't realize you were a geologist, too, Daniel," she remarked after he'd explained about the strata visible within the face of a rock wall they passed.

"I'm not really, but archeologists do need to know something about geology. It was one of my bachelor's degrees."

Sam smiled. "And how many bachelor's do you have, Doctor Jackson?"

"Um . . . a few."

Sam's smiled broadened. Daniel, in fact, had quite a number of bachelor's degrees to go along with his impressive collection of master's degrees and doctorates. That was one of the things that attracted her to him most, the brilliance of his amazing mind. She always did think that smart was sexy. Though Pete was an intelligent man, he couldn't hold a candle to Daniel. Wondering why she was comparing Pete to Daniel again, Sam resumed walking, the archeologist at her side.

By the time they were heading back toward camp a few hours later, it was getting close to sunset.

"This was fun," Sam said.

"Yes, it was," Daniel agreed. "I guess the people who were here before recognized the value of having a good time. I honestly can't remember the last time I had a real vacation, one where I actually went out and did fun things."

"Me neither. How sad is that?"

"Pretty sad."

Sam smiled and turned to him. "So, what fun is planned for tomorrow?"

"Well, it was pretty warm today. If it still is tomorrow, I was thinking that we could go swimming."

Sam's eyes lit up. "Well, as it so happens, I brought my swimsuit."

Daniel's face split into a grin. "So did I."

Laughing, Sam and Daniel continued their walk back to camp, both of them looking forward to tomorrow.

* * *

The sun was just setting when the two friends arrived at camp. Wanting to see the sunset on the water, Sam went to the lake. Daniel hung back and watched her as the rays of the setting sun turned her hair to spun gold and gave her an almost magical appearance.

Jack came up beside him. "You really do love her," he said.

A small smile curved Daniel's lips. "Yes, I do. For a long time now, I thought that I'd never love like this again. I thought that Sha're would forever be the only woman I'd ever really love. But Sam, she. . . ."

Jack turned to him. "What?" he inquired encouragingly.

"She . . . completes me. Even though we're not in a relationship, she makes me feel so much more than I am without her. How is that possible? How can she feel like she's part of my soul when all we've ever shared was one brief kiss?"

Jack was curious about this kiss Daniel was talking about, but now was not the time to ask. "I don't know, Daniel," he replied softly. "I was never one who believed in that whole soul mates stuff. It always sounded too corny to me. But, if soul mates do exist, I'd have to say that Sam is yours."

"Soul mates."

"Yep."

Daniel looked at Sam again. "She is so incredible. But then, I probably don't have to tell you that. She's brilliant, compassionate, beautiful, loving. . . ." He smiled self-consciously and glanced at Jack. "Sorry. I didn't mean to, um . . . get mushy."

"Hey, don't stop on my account. I completely agree that Carter is an amazing woman." Jack looked at his friend. "I'm glad that you've learned to love again, Daniel, and I'm glad that it's for someone as great as Sam. And Daniel? Don't ever think that you don't deserve her, because you do."

The archeologist looked at him, surprised that Jack must have guessed what he was thinking.

"How did you know?" he asked.

"What, that you thought you didn't deserve her? I know you, Daniel. It was a no-brainer. So, when are you going to tell her?"

"I don't know. I guess I'll know when the right time comes. With Sha're it was so much easier. We were already married, so it was pretty easy for me to say the words. But Sam doesn't know I feel this way – or at least I don't _think_ she does – and I'm. . . ."

"Scared?"

"Yeah."

Jack smiled faintly in remembrance. "I was terrified out of my mind to say the words to Sara, even though we'd been dating for a while."

"How did you do it?"

Jack's smile grew. "I ended up just blurting it out like an idiot over hotdogs in the park. She had mustard on her cheek, and she looked so cute. One second, I was telling her about the mustard on her face, and, the next, I was saying, 'I love you.'"

Daniel grinned at the story. "What did she say?"

"I think her exact words were, 'I know, silly. I love you, too.'"

Daniel chuckled. "How romantic."

Jack jabbed him in the ribs with his elbow. "Hey, don't knock it. We were married six months later."

That evening, as Jack yet again ate fish, the rest of his teammates dined on steaks cooked over an open fire with onions and baby carrots. Jack kept glancing at their plates, the smell of the beef and onions making his mouth water.

"How's the fish, Jack?" Daniel inquired in a voice that sounded a tad more innocent than it should have.

"Delicious. Can't get enough of it," the colonel replied a bit too enthusiastically.

"That's good."

Jack glanced up and caught a smirk on the archeologist's face, also seeing one on Sam's features.

"Do you not grow tired of eating those creatures, O'Neill?" Teal'c asked.

The widening of the smiles that Daniel and Sam were trying to hide ticked Jack off. "Nope, not at all, T. In fact, I'll probably be having fish every night we're here. I'm taking advantage of the bounties of this planet, as all of you should."

"No offense, sir, but, though I do like fish on occasion, I'd rather take advantage of the bounties of the grocery store," Sam responded.

Daniel's snort of laughter resulted in a glare from Jack.

"You people just have no appreciation for the finer things in life," the grey-haired man grumbled.

About half a minute of silence had passed when Daniel suddenly said, "So, Jack, did I ever tell you that I went fishing in the Nile a couple of times?"

Jack stared at him, open-mouthed. "You . . . you fish?"

"Uh huh. Sometimes on digs, it made more sense for us to catch our own food than to pack it in from the nearest town or village."

"You fish?" Jack repeated.

"I remember there was this one time that a friend of mine talked me into going deep sea fishing with him in the Red Sea, and I accidentally caught a shark. Then there was that time on the Amazon—"

Jack waved his hands about. "Whoa, whoa! Okay, let me get this straight." He paused. "You fish?"

Daniel looked at him, then at his other teammates. "Didn't I just say that?"

"Indeed you did, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c replied. "In fact, it appears that you have more experience in fishing than O'Neill."

"Why the hell didn't you ever tell me this?" Jack wanted to know.

"Because, if I had, you'd never have left me alone, Jack," Daniel told him. "You would have wanted to drag me off fishing every time we had leave."

"Of _course_ I would. The Nile? The Red Sea? The _Amazon_? Damn."

"Yes, Jack, I've been fishing in all those places and more, but it's not my most favorite thing in the world to do. Most of the time, it was simply a way to feed myself and others on the dig. It's been at least ten years since the last time I picked up a fishing rod."

"We could go tomorrow," Jack said hopefully.

"Sorry, Jack. I've already got plans for tomorrow." Daniel paused upon seeing the disappointed look on his friend's face. "But there's always the next day."

Jack's face was transformed into a smile. "Sweet."

"I do not understand this fascination with fishing," Teal'c said.

"You didn't enjoy your experience today?" Sam asked.

"I did not."

"Oh, he's just sore because the only thing he caught was the size of a minnow," Jack stated. "I think he scared all the other fish away. They took one look at his frowning face and skedaddled."

Said frowning face frowned even deeper.

"I bet you'd like spear fishing, Teal'c," Daniel commented.

"You can do that, too?" Jack asked, amazed.

"I'm not talking about fishing underwater with a speargun, Jack. I'm talking about standing in a river with a spear in your hand and spearing the fish that swim by. And, no, I can't do that, though someone did try to teach me once."

"That does, indeed, sound most intriguing," Teal'c stated, thinking that it would take a great deal of skill to successfully catch fish in that manner.

"Well, maybe one of these days, you can try it."

"What about tomorrow?" Jack asked.

"I do not have a spear, O'Neill," Teal'c pointed out.

"We could make one. There are plenty of saplings around here. Just whack off the branches, sharpen the end to a point, and you've got yourself a spear."

"Actually, a lot of fishing spears have three prongs, but I suppose that would do," Daniel said.

Jack slapped Teal'c on the shoulder, grinning. "Okay, big guy. Tomorrow you get to go spear fishing."

Teal'c inclined his head, smiling faintly.

"You sure you won't join us, Daniel?" Jack asked.

"No, Sam and I are going swimming tomorrow."

A knowing smile curved the colonel's lips. "Ah. Sounds like fun. Hope you have a good time."

Knowing what Jack was implying, Daniel ducked his head to hide the faint tinge of color that came to his cheeks. He went to bed that night wondering if tomorrow would, indeed, be the day that he got up the courage to tell Sam that he loved her.


	10. Chapter 10

CHAPTER TEN

The next day turned out to be even warmer than the day before, and both Sam and Daniel agreed that it was the perfect weather for swimming. Jack had made it clear, however, that they were to do it well away from his fishing spot since he didn't want them to scare away the fish. He and Teal'c had gone in search of a suitable sapling for the Jaffa's spear and found one that was almost perfectly straight. Once the branches had been trimmed off and the end whittled down to a sharp point, the two men were off to see who could catch more fish.

When Sam emerged from her tent wearing a rather skimpy, black, two-piece bathing suit, Daniel almost dropped the bag he was carrying. He'd never had the opportunity to see quite so much of her slender, shapely body before, and it was doing a number on his self-control. He watched, entranced, as she tied a long, sheer, colorful sarong around her hips. Realizing that his mouth was hanging open, he closed it with a snap and viciously put a lid on the thoughts that had sprung into his mind. His tongue, however, had a mind of its own.

"Wow, Sam. You look fantastic," he blurted out. "Jack would probably forget all about fishing if he saw you right now."

Sam blushed prettily, extremely pleased by his compliment. "Thank you, Daniel." She looked down at the jeans and T-shirt he was wearing. "So, are you going to change?"

"Oh, um, yeah, I guess. I'm afraid that I won't look as good in my suit as you do in yours, not with these skinny legs of mine."

"Daniel, I've seen your legs, and they're perfectly fine. So, go get your suit on. I want to go swimming."

A faint flush on his face, Daniel did as he was told. When he came back out of his tent wearing nothing but a pair of rather snug swim shorts, Sam's temperature skyrocketed. Wow. She had seen Daniel without a shirt on several times in the past, but most of those times had been when he was in the infirmary, bandages adorning his body. This was the first time in quite a while that she'd seen him in such a state of undress while not injured. Though she had known that Daniel was working out a lot more nowadays and had added a whole lot of muscle mass, it hadn't really hit her until now how buff he was. She was having a really hard time not staring at his shoulders, chest and abs, and it was taking a supreme act of will not to look lower.

Dragging her eyes away from his body, Sam looked up at Daniel's face just in time to catch a little grimace. He tugged at the leg of his swim shorts.

"Sorry about these," he said. "I haven't worn them since college, and I've put on some weight since then. I guess it's that middle-age spread they talk about."

"Daniel, you're too young to be suffering from middle-age spread. You've put on a lot of muscle lately, and it's common for men's bodies to thicken a little as they get older. But you are most definitely not getting fat. You look . . . great." Sam had just barely stopped herself from saying that he looked absolutely gorgeous.

Daniel flushed again and cleared his throat. "Um . . . thanks. I'll, uh, go get our food."

He turned away, and Sam's eyes immediately dropped to his butt, which the shorts were displaying very nicely.

"I'm certainly not complaining about the fit," she murmured under her breath, then blushed brightly. She really shouldn't be having these kinds of thoughts about Daniel. It was wrong. You're not supposed to have lustful thoughts about your best friend. But then, hadn't she had similar thoughts about Jack on occasion? He was also her friend, and her C.O. to boot. So why was it bothering her more to have those kinds of thoughts about Daniel?

_'Because it's not safe!'_ her mind cried. She could have all kinds of thoughts like that about Jack and not worry about it because nothing could ever come of it. Such was not the case with Daniel. No regulations stood in their way. They could have hot, wild sex and not be breaking a single rule.

Whoa. Okay, did it suddenly get warmer? These were dangerous thoughts, and she really shouldn't be having them. No matter how much she might want to find out what it would be like to make love with Daniel, it would be a bad, bad idea and would cause nothing but problems and heartaches. 'Best friends with benefits' might work for some people, but not for her and Daniel. Besides, he deserved a lot more than that. He deserved to have a love like he had with Sha're, a wife and family, someone with whom he could spend the rest of his life.

Putting those thoughts out of her mind, Sam accompanied Daniel to the spot they had picked out as the perfect place. It was secluded and plenty far enough away from Jack that he wouldn't complain about the fish being disturbed but close enough to camp that they could walk back to get anything they might need.

Daniel and Sam spent a good part of the afternoon in and out of the water, swimming, racing and frolicking like a couple of teenagers. Finally having enough of swimming, they laid out in the sun, soaking up the delicious warmth. After almost an hour of just lying there, Sam turned and looked at Daniel. The book he had been reading was beside him, along with his glasses. His eyes were closed, face turned up to the sun, wearing an expression of peace and contentment.

"This surprises me," Sam remarked.

Daniel looked at her. "What does?"

Sam turned onto her side and propped her head up on her hand. "You lying there, perfectly content to do absolutely nothing. You always struck me as the kind of guy who has a hard time doing nothing. You're always busy with something."

One of Daniel's eyebrows quirked upward. "Isn't that kind of a case of the pot calling the kettle black, Sam?"

The astrophysicist smiled. "Okay, so I'm sort of the same way, but I do appreciate the opportunity to slow down on occasion as long as I'm doing something I enjoy, like this. How many women don't love sunbathing?"

"Well, despite what you may think, I do sometimes do nothing, though I admit that it's not often." Daniel sat up and wrapped his arms loosely about his legs, his eyes on the lake. "Whenever I was out on a dig, I used to enjoy going off by myself and just sit and look at whatever natural or manmade wonder was in view. I remember one evening when I was on a dig in Egypt, I sat and watched the moon rise over the ruins, thinking about my parents and how my life had turned out." He faced her and gave her one of his beautiful smiles. "So, you see? There are some things you don't know about me. I do have a few mysteries left."

Sam found herself caught in the blueness of his eyes. She felt something deep inside do this funny little lurch, like it had been tilted out of place. She wanted to kiss him, hold him, make love with him until the sun came up tomorrow. But Sam did none of those things. Instead, she turned her face away and focused on the lake.

"So, I guess that's another way that we're alike," she said with forced lightness. "The colonel would probably fall over in shock if he knew that we really were capable of doing nothing."

Daniel chuckled. "Yes, he probably would. Of course, then, he'd insist that we both go with him to his cabin in Minnesota and spend a week doing absolutely nothing except fish an empty pond. As it is, I'll be lucky if I don't get dragged over there now that Jack knows I can fish."

Sam gave a laugh that was almost a giggle. "I have to say that I felt so sorry for Teal'c when I found out about that trip they took there. He must have been miserable."

"Yeah, well, he was having a better time than I was. I'll take fishing an empty pond over a round with a ribbon device any day."

The memory of Daniel's first entanglement with Osiris made Sam think about Sarah, which, in turn, made her thoughts return to the question of whether or not Daniel would be interested in renewing his relationship with the woman.

"Did you love Sarah?" she asked. When Daniel didn't reply, she looked at him. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked that."

"No, it's okay. The truth is that I can't really put a name on what I felt for her. I know that she loved me, and I did care for her a great deal, but I was so focused on my research that it took precedence over everything else. I was an idiot. I worked right through our two-month anniversary, and it didn't even dawn on me until Sarah came walking in, wanting to know why I'd missed our date. She broke up with me after that."

"I'm sorry."

Daniel shrugged. "I guess it just wasn't the right time for me to be in a relationship. It was so different when I met Sha're. She became the most important thing in my life."

Sam nodded, knowing how much Daniel had loved his wife. "So . . . do you think that you'd ever consider getting back together with Sarah?"

Surprised, Daniel stared at her. "What? No. No, that would never happen. I stopped feeling that way about Sarah a very long time ago. She's just a friend, and that's all she'll ever be. Besides—" his voice broke off abruptly, and he turned away.

"Besides what?" Sam prompted, curious.

"Nothing."

Sam poked him in the arm. "Come on, Daniel. Tell me," she pleaded, interjecting a whine in her voice.

The archeologist shrugged. "She's just not my type anymore."

"Really? Why not? She's smart, beautiful, shares your passion for archeology and, from what I could see, seems like a nice person."

"Yes, she is all those things, but she's not. . . ." He stopped again. _'She's not you,'_ he silently finished. "She just doesn't have what I want in a woman now," he said aloud.

"You want someone like Sha're?" Sam asked.

Daniel shook his head. "No."

The single word answer and Daniel's body language told Sam that he didn't want to talk about this anymore. Though she really did want to know what kind of woman Daniel wanted, she respected his wish for privacy.

"So, what about you?" he suddenly asked.

"What about me?"

"Now that you've broken up with Pete, do you have any plans to get back in the dating game?"

"Oh, I don't think so, at least not for a while. Pete was such a rousing failure that I'm going to be a whole lot more careful next time when it comes to picking a boyfriend. I need someone who will accept me for who and what I am, including the secrecy that comes with my job. I need someone who understands me and can share my passions with me."

"You mean another astrophysicist?" Daniel asked, careful to keep his voice neutral.

"No, not necessarily. He wouldn't have to have exactly the same interests, just a shared passion for discovery and a thirst for knowledge."

_'__**I**__ do, Sam,'_ he told her silently. _'I could share that with you. I already do.'_ He cleared his throat a little nervously. "So . . . I'm, uh . . . guessing that Jack is no longer on your list."

Shocked, Sam jerked her head around in Daniel's direction. "I didn't realize that you knew. How long have you known?"

"I'm not sure. I guess I started becoming aware of it back when Jack was trapped on Edora. The way you acted then was, well. . . ."

Sam sighed. "Yeah."

"So, what happened to change things . . . or did they change?" Daniel asked hesitantly, afraid to hear the answer.

Sam paused before replying. "I finally realized that I'd been using Jack as a sort of safely net. Every relationship or _potential_ relationship I've had with a man has ended really badly. My engagement to Jonas Hanson ended when I discovered that he was not the kind of man I thought he was. Narim and Martouf both died. Orlin ascended again. I've been afraid to let myself get involved with a man for fear that something would happen and I'd be left alone. With the colonel, I was safe."

Daniel nodded, understanding. "You couldn't have him, so you couldn't get hurt."

"Yeah. As long as I was thinking about him that way, I wouldn't get involved with someone else and take the chance of losing them."

"And now?"

"I realized that I was cheating myself, that I was missing out on a big part of life. I didn't want to miss out anymore. I still care a lot about Jack, and I will probably always be attracted to him, but I know now that what I feel for him isn't something that I could build a lifetime relationship on. I need more. And let's face it. He and I aren't at all compatible. We'd probably have been at each other's throats inside a year if we'd actually tried to make a go of it. Heck, you and I have always gotten along way better than Jack and I have."

Sam's last sentence made Daniel's heart do a little flipflop. In that moment, he wanted so badly to tell her that he loved her, but he was still afraid. She'd given no indication so far that she felt anything like that for him.

A chilly breeze began blowing off the lake. Sam shivered and rubbed her arms. Standing, she got her sarong and the shirt she'd brought along and put them on, tying the shirt at her waist instead of buttoning it. Daniel also rose and donned a pair of shorts and a shirt. He was reaching for the buttons of the shirt when he became aware that Sam was watching him. He looked up at her and, for the tiniest instant, could have sworn that he saw desire in her eyes. Had it been real or just wishful thinking? Choosing to take a chance, Daniel looked straight into her eyes.

"Have you ever wondered, Sam?"

"Wondered what?" she asked, sounding slightly breathless.

Daniel took two steps toward her, bringing them to within a few inches of each other. He lifted his hand and touched her cheek with his fingertips, brushing them down to her jawline. "About this," he murmured lowly. His thumb swept lightly across her lower lip.

"This?" Sam whispered, a little squeak in her voice.

"This."

Slowly, Daniel leaned in, giving Sam a chance to pull away. Her eyes were wide, their blueness drawing him into them, sucking him down like a swimmer caught in a whirlpool. She stood unmoving as his mouth came down upon hers.

The moment that their lips touched, Daniel experienced the same incredible feelings that he did the first time he kissed her. But, this time, there was no surprise, no guilt, only the desire to continue. And, as she began to respond to the kiss, that desire became need.

Daniel wrapped his arms around Sam and pulled her willing body against his. As her lips parted beneath his, he tentatively slid his tongue past them and gently began exploring her mouth, stroking the length of her tongue slowly and sensuously. The sensation drove a low moan from Sam's throat, and she pulled his body more tightly against hers. Her tongue found its way into his mouth, discovering the taste of him as she probed the unknown depths eagerly. Daniel's fingers buried themselves in her hair as they deepened the kiss even more.

Sam couldn't believe how good this felt, how much she wanted to keep kissing him. All the times she had kissed Pete, it had never felt this way; it had never made her feel like she could happily do it forever. Tangling her hands in his hair, she held Daniel's mouth to hers, letting herself become hopelessly lost in the sensations coursing through her.

Moments later, the feeling of the sun-warmed grass upon her back made Sam realize that they were now lying on the ground. But she spared no thought for that, her senses too overwhelmed by what was happening. Daniel was above her, his upper body a pleasant weight upon her, his mouth searching hers with slow, single-minded purpose. Sam returned his kisses with ever-increasing passion. Her sarong and shirt had both come untied, and the feeling of Daniel's bare skin against hers was setting Sam on fire. As his left hand descended from its place in her hair to slide down her body, she arched up against him, wanting desperately for their bodies to be even closer.

Daniel let out a moan, the taste of Sam's mouth and the feeling of her almost naked body beneath him catapulting him into a maelstrom of desire. He could never remember wanting a woman as much as he wanted Sam. Deep in the back of his mind, he knew that this shouldn't be happening, but he just didn't care. He had longed for this so deeply that, at that moment, nothing else in the universe mattered.

Throwing caution aside, Daniel slid his hand beneath the soft curve of Sam's bottom and pulled her hips up against his as his left leg slipped between hers. Sam uttered a deep groan, and her leg wrapped itself around his, the other one rising up between his parted thighs.

_'Oh, God,'_ was Daniel's last coherent thought as they crushed their lower bodies together. Their kiss grew hungry and demanding, shooting liquid fire through both of them. Sam clutched at him frantically. God, she wanted him. She wanted him so badly that it was like a fire in her mind and soul. There was no doubt that he wanted her equally as much. His firm, muscular body was lying almost fully on top of her, the evidence of his arousal driving her insane with need. One of his hands was stroking her stomach and rib cage, the other one keeping their lower bodies pressed tightly together.

Wanting desperately for his touch to go higher, Sam was about to take matters into her own hands when, as if he had somehow read her mind, Daniel glided his hand up to her breast. A sharp gasp escaped Sam's mouth, and she threw her head back. Daniel immediately took advantage of the position and descended upon her neck, hungrily feasting upon it with his lips and tongue.

His desire spiraling out of control, Daniel brought his mouth to her left ear and began licking and sucking upon it as his touch upon her breast grew still more intimate.

A cry of rapture on her lips, Sam fumbled for the button of Daniel's shorts, her mind and body inflamed with need for him. She was lowering the zipper when, all at once, the thought of what she was doing and who with suddenly hit her, finally penetrating through the haze of desire. She froze, heart racing both with shock and the passion that still burned within her. What the hell was she doing? This was _Daniel_! They shouldn't be doing this!

Sensing the change, Daniel stilled. He lifted his head and met her eyes, searching deeply. Sam watched as the passion-darkened depths filled with an expression of realization, guilt and shame. A second later, he was on his feet and hurrying away.

Sam lay where she was for a long moment, then sat up. She buttoned her shirt with shaky fingers, her body still thrumming with the feelings Daniel had created within her, feelings more intense than anything she had ever experienced before, even though they had stopped short of going all the way.

Sam had no idea how this could have happened, how she could have so completely lost every shred of control and common sense. She hadn't been thinking about what she was doing at all. Sam had never in her life been so utterly controlled by her libido before, and she now felt shaken and mortified by how close she and Daniel had come to making love and totally screwing everything up. What made it even worse was that a big part of her still wanted it, regardless of the consequences. But, despite how much that part of her might want it, it was something that could not be allowed to happen.

Sam looked about and saw no sign of Daniel. Knowing that they needed to talk about this, she got up, retied her sarong around her hips, and headed in the direction he'd taken. She found him a few minutes later, sitting on the bank of the lake, elbows on his knees, face hidden in his hands.

"Daniel?" Sam inquired softly. When he gave no sign of having heard her, she took a few steps closer, drawing up beside him.

"I'm sorry, Sam. God, I'm sorry," he whispered hoarsely.

"What for?"

Daniel lifted his head and looked up at her. He gave a choked little laugh. "What for? F-f-for taking advantage of you like that, for . . . for doing that to you."

"Daniel, you didn't take advantage of me, and you did nothing that I didn't want you to. I was an equal partner in what just happened, and I think it's pretty safe to say that I wanted it as much as you did, even if it was a huge mistake."

"A mistake," Daniel murmured, turning his face to the lake. "Yes, I guess it was."

There was a note of deep sorrow in Daniel's voice. Sam realized that she'd hurt him with her statement. She settled on the ground beside him, wishing she could look into his eyes. "Daniel, what happened, it was . . . it was fantastic, but, yes, it was a mistake," she told him gently. "It should never have happened, and I think you know that. I would be lying if I said that I wasn't physically attracted to you. That was made pretty obvious by how I responded back there. I'd also be lying if I said that I'd never had thoughts about doing something like that with you. But we're friends and teammates, and, if we had made love, we would have regretted it later. That isn't what our relationship's about."

Sam laid her hand on Daniel's arm and was both shocked and hurt when he flinched away from her.

"I'm sorry," he said, turning completely away from her. "I just . . . I can't talk about this now. I need to be alone for a while."

Sam didn't understand why he was reacting like this. "Daniel, tell me what's wrong. Please."

The archeologist got up and walked away a few paces. "I think it would be best if you didn't know."

Sam rose to her feet and walked over to him. "Know what? Please tell me."

There was a long moment of silence, then Daniel turned around to look at her. She was stunned to see tears on his face. "I'm in love with you, Sam," he said in a heartbreakingly sad voice. "What happened back there, it was so incredible, so. . . ." He closed his eyes, swallowing tightly. When his eyes opened, they were filled with the grief of a great loss. "You're right, Sam. It was a mistake. It was a mistake for me to hope that you could ever feel the same way I do. You don't have to worry, though. I'll never speak of this again. We can just go back to the way thing were before, forget this ever happened. I just need to be alone right now."

His voice breaking on the last word, Daniel turned and left. Sam did not follow him. She was too stunned by what he had told her. Daniel was in love with her? The thought sent her mind reeling. She'd had no idea, no clue that he felt that way. How long had this been going on? She recalled what Daniel had said about their first kiss. Had he known then and just been attempting to hide his feelings from her?

And what about her? How did _she_ feel about _him_? She knew that she loved him. He was a dear friend, someone who was a very important part of her life. And, as she had just admitted, she was also extremely attracted to him. But she wasn't _in_ love with him. She couldn't be. After all these years, she'd surely know if she felt that way. After all, she had been in love before.

Sam returned to where they had gone swimming. As she gathered up what she could of the things they'd brought, she saw Daniel's book and glasses lying upon the blanket. Tears came to her eyes as she thought about how wonderful a day it had been. Now, it was all ruined. Swiping the tears away, Sam carefully placed the book and glasses with the other stuff she couldn't carry herself and made her way back to camp. Jack was there alone. She tried to hide her emotions from him, but she knew that she wasn't doing a very good job.

"Where's Daniel?" he asked with a frown.

"He . . . went for a walk," Sam replied.

Jack stared at her with an intensity that made her uncomfortable. "Did something happen?"

Much to her chagrin, Sam's response was a mild blush.

Jack took in her rumpled appearance, the heightened color of her face, and he suddenly had a good idea what happened. He'd have smiled if it hadn't been for the sad and deeply troubled expression on Sam's face when she came into camp. He was pretty sure that Daniel had made a move on her, but it appeared that something had gone wrong. Had she rejected him? Jack was surprised to feel anger at that thought. Daniel and Sam would be perfect for each other. If she couldn't see that, then maybe someone needed to tell her.

"He's a good man, Sam," he said. "They don't come any better."

Surprised, his second in command stared at him.

"You two are like peas in a pod most days," Jack continued. "You . . . you _get_ each other, really understand each other. I've watched you together, and it amazes me how in tune you are. You finish each other's sentences, you pick up on each other's thoughts and ideas in the blink of an eye. Sometimes, I could have sworn that you were psychically connected. I loved Sara a great deal, and she and I were fantastic together, but I never had with her what I see between you and Daniel, and I doubt that I ever will with any woman."

Sam's mouth was hanging opened, shocked speechless by what Jack was saying. He was always so reticent, so closed-mouthed about his feelings. It had taken a great deal of pushing to get him to admit to his feelings for her during the Zatarc test. Yet here he was, openly trying to convince her that Daniel was the right man for her.

Sam no longer had any doubt about how Jack felt about her now. If he still had romantic feelings for her, he certainly wouldn't be trying to push her into the arms of his best friend. Did he know that Daniel was in love with her? Sam suspected that he did.

"Sir, I. . . . Daniel and I, we're. . . ." Sam stumbled over her words, not quite knowing what to say.

"You're what? Just friends? Then am I wrong about what just happened between you two?" Sam's furiously blushing face told him that he wasn't. "He loves you, Sam. If he hasn't already told you, then he should have. He'll probably kill me for telling you if he hasn't, but I'll risk it since I think you'd be an idiot not to do something about it. But, hey, that's just what I think. It's your life, and if you'd rather date guys like that Pete character, who obviously didn't deserve you, then that's your business. But I have to tell you, Carter. Unconditional love is a rare thing for a man to give a woman, let alone when it comes with the kind of respect and trust Daniel has for you. If I was ever lucky enough to have someone feel that way about me, I sure wouldn't throw it away."

Jack walked away, leaving Sam alone with her thoughts.

Teal'c showed up about an hour later. Two hours after that, Daniel still wasn't back, and both Jack and Sam were getting worried. The sun had slipped behind the mountains, and it was quickly getting dark. The colonel was wishing that he'd insisted that the younger man keep a radio with him at all times. He knew that Daniel was extremely capable of taking care of himself, but possessing psychic abilities wouldn't make a difference if he had gotten seriously hurt and was lying unconscious somewhere. And in the state of mind that Daniel was most likely in, he probably wasn't being as careful as he should be.

Though neither Jack nor Sam had told Teal'c what was going on, he knew that something was wrong. There was a feeling of tension between the colonel and the major, and Sam appeared to be upset about something. The Jaffa guessed that the lack of Daniel's presence was significant even though he had been told that the archeologist was merely taking a walk. When the sun went down and Daniel had still not returned, Teal'c was certain that his suspicions were correct. He noted that his companions appeared to be getting worried.

"Should Daniel Jackson not have returned by now?" he asked.

"Yes, he should," Jack replied. "If he doesn't come back soon, I'm going out to look for him, regardless of how dark it gets."

Sam sat beside the fire she had just lit, staring into its bright depths. This was all her fault. She should have said something to Daniel, talked to him about his feelings instead of just standing there like an idiot. She knew that they needed to talk about it, despite what Daniel had said about never mentioning it again. She just didn't know what she was going to say. What do you say to your best friend when you find out that he's in love with you and you're really not sure exactly how you feel about him? Thinking about that question, Sam realized what the two most important words in it were. Daniel was her best friend. She should be able to get past this and be a friend to him. There was just one big problem with that. During these hours, Sam had been thinking about how it felt to be kissed by him, how he tasted, the sensation of his large hands touching her intimately, his body moving against hers. It was amazing, wonderful. She had felt so alive, and she couldn't help but wonder what it would have been like if they hadn't stopped, if they had made love. Just the thought of it sent a wave of heat through her whole body.

Sam had admitted to herself that she very much wanted to experience those things again. She wanted to make love with Daniel, to come to know his body as well as she knew him as a person. But she wasn't sure if she was prepared to enter into a romantic relationship with him. Just the fact that he was her teammate would make things awkward. Though Jack apparently had nothing against them getting together, there was General Hammond to consider. Would he let them both remain on SG-1? Though there were no military regulations against them dating since Daniel was a civilian, that didn't mean that Hammond wouldn't insist that one of them leave the team. And what if it didn't work out between them? Could they go back to just being friends and still work together, or would the failed romance come between them?

When Sam had romantic feelings for Jack, she never thought about these things since she'd known that they could never have a relationship as long as both of them were in the military and in the same chain of command. But with Daniel, it was different, _everything_ was different. Though she hadn't much cared for Jack lecturing her, she had to admit that he was right about some things. She and Daniel were a great team. The compatibility that was always lacking between her and Jack was there in spades with Daniel. But, again, that didn't necessarily mean that they could have a successful romance.

The sound of someone approaching had all three of them turning toward the noise. They were relieved to see Daniel. The relief was short-lived, however. Whereas, that morning, Daniel had looked happy and relaxed, he was now tense and completely closed off. He didn't look at Sam at all as he walked into camp, carrying the remainder of the things he and Sam had taken with them.

"We were getting kind of worried about you, Daniel," Jack said, not even a trace of censure in his voice. He could tell that his friend was in a great deal of emotional pain. The utter emotionlessness of the archeologist's face and the fact that he didn't look at any of them in the eyes was a dead giveaway.

Daniel set down the stuff he was carrying, except for his personal items. "Sorry. Lost track of time," he said, his voice as emotionless as his face.

"Well, it's my turn to cook, so just sit yourself down."

"Actually, I think I'll skip dinner. I'm not really hungry. I'm just going to jot some things down in my journal, then go on to bed. I'm kind of tired."

Not waiting for anyone to question him or object, Daniel went to his tent. A moment later, the lantern inside came on.

Jack looked over at Sam, and she couldn't help but see the blame there. They both knew that this was her fault. She just didn't know what to do to fix it. She couldn't tell Daniel what she knew he wanted to hear, that she was in love with him, too. The truth was that she was getting progressively more confused about her feelings for him with every passing hour. She loved him deeply as a friend. Of that she was certain. But she also strongly desired him as a woman. So, what did that mean?

Sam couldn't help but think of the Carl Anderson and Gloria Loring song "Friends and Lovers," a song about friends becoming lovers. In the song, the person reasoned that they didn't have to be just friends or lovers, that they could be both and that nothing would change if they made love. But that wasn't true with her and Daniel. A whole lot would change, and, unlike in the song, they'd be risking more than a broken heart by becoming lovers. Would it be worth the risk and what they might have to give up? Sam just didn't know, just as she didn't know if her feelings for Daniel were merely being influenced by lust.

Having no idea what to say to Daniel, Sam remained where she was. Jack fixed dinner in silence, and she ate it without really tasting it. When she looked over at the archeologist's tent again, she saw that the light was out.

Not feeling very sociable, Sam went to her own tent right after dinner. After getting dressed for bed, she sat on her sleeping bag, staring at nothing for a very long time. Finally, she crawled into the bag and turned off the lantern. It took a very long time for sleep to claim her.


	11. Chapter 11

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Things were awful the next morning when Sam got up. Jack was putting fresh wood on the fire, his expression dark, and she could feel the displeasure coming off him in waves. The way Teal'c looked at her led Sam to believe that Jack had filled the Jaffa in on what was going on. What Teal'c thought about the whole thing was a mystery. Daniel was apparently not up yet.

"He's gone," Jack said shortly upon seeing her look at Daniel's tent. "He left about an hour ago, before the sun even made it up over the hills. I don't know where he went. All he said was that he was going to take a look at one of the other ruins. He wouldn't tell me anything else except that he'd be back in three days."

"You let him go alone?" Sam asked, both surprised and worried.

"There wasn't much that I could do about it, Carter. I tried to get him to take Teal'c with him, but I can't make Daniel to do anything he doesn't want to anymore. He took the radio with him, so at least we can contact him if we have to." Jack looked straight at Sam. "I couldn't get Daniel to tell me what happened between you, so maybe you'll be more forthcoming."

Sam really didn't want to talk with the colonel about what happened, but if this was going to affect the team, she had no choice. She glanced over at Teal'c. Seeing her look, the Jaffa rose to his feet.

"I will return in one hour," he stated simply, then left.

"So?" Jack prompted when Sam had said nothing after a couple of minutes.

Sam sighed wearily. "We were talking and got on the subject of relationships. One thing led to another and . . . and we kissed."

"Kissed? That's all?"

Sam blushed crimson. "No. We, um, did more than that, a _lot_ more. But I suddenly realized what we were doing and stopped it. Daniel felt so ashamed. He thought that he'd pushed himself on me, but that wasn't the case at all, which I told him. I then told him that, even though I had wanted it, too, it had been a big mistake, that we're friends and teammates to each other, not . . . not that, and we would have regretted it later if we'd . . . gone all the way."

_'Shit.'_ That's the word that went through Jack's mind upon hearing what Sam had told Daniel.

The major's voice filled with pain. "He told me that he was in love with me. He said that it had been a mistake for him to hope that I could love him, too. And then he left."

"And you let him leave without saying anything to him?" Jack asked angrily.

"I was in shock, Colonel! I didn't know he felt that way! I had no idea. I didn't know what to say to him. I still don't."

"Well, you'd better come up with something, because Daniel deserves a hell of a lot more from you than silence," Jack snapped. "And if you two think that you can just pretend this never happened, think again. It doesn't work that way. It will always be between you until you sit down with each other and try to come up with a resolution." He looked at her closely. "I don't know what your feelings are for Daniel, though the fact that you didn't stop what went on between you before it got beyond a kiss tells me that you feel things that have nothing to do with friendship. But I will tell you this: Daniel loves you at _least_ as much as he loved Sha're, if not more, and that's saying a lot considering how long he held that torch for her after she died. If you can never love Daniel like that, then there's nothing anyone can do about it, but if you love him as a friend, you'll do everything you can to fix this and save your friendship."

Jack's angrily spoken words were met with silence, and he stormed away to cool off. A short while later, Sam went for a walk, wishing that none of this had ever happened . . . and that Daniel was here safe with her.

* * *

Breathing heavily from exertion, Daniel reached the top of the ridge. He turned and looked down at the countryside thousands of feet below. He could see the ruins that he, Sam and Teal'c had explored their first day here. The lake lay like a blue gem to the right of them. Daniel wondered if Jack was fishing again.

If the colonel had known where he was planning on going, Daniel would never have made it out of camp alone, which was why he hadn't told the man, only revealing the general direction he'd be taking. He was surprised that Jack hadn't demanded more details.

Daniel thought back to the conversation they had that morning.

_"Going somewhere?"_

_Daniel glanced up at Jack, who had just emerged from his tent. The man was watching him from a few feet away, arms crossed over his chest._

_The archeologist continued stuffing things in his backpack. "I'm, uh, going to check out one of the other ruins in the area."_

_"I see. Were you planning on letting us know or just sneak off?"_

_"I figured that you'd probably be up before I left."_

_"The sun isn't even up yet."_

_"I wanted to get an early start."_

_Jack came up to him. "Daniel, tell me what happened," he requested quietly, not hiding the concern in his voice._

_The younger man paused, then shook his head. "I . . . can't, not now. I just . . . I made a big mistake, did something I shouldn't have, and I-I just need to get away for a little while." He straightened, lifting the pack onto his back. "I'll be back in three days."_

_"Daniel, I don't like the idea of you going off by yourself. Let Teal'c go with you."_

_Daniel shook his head. "I need to be alone for a few days. Don't worry, Jack. I can take care of myself. And I **am** an archeologist. I've spent plenty of time off alone when I'm on a dig."_

_"Yeah, but those times weren't on an alien planet."_

_"We've seen no sign of any intelligent species still living here, and I doubt that the wildlife is any more dangerous than it is in some of the places I've been, not to mention the less than friendly natives. I'll be fine." He looked at Jack sharply. "And don't send Teal'c out on my trail after I leave. I **will** know if you do."_

_Jack searched Daniel's eyes for a long moment. "All right. But take a radio. I don't want you completely out of communication."_

_"Already got one."_

_Daniel moved past Jack. He'd gone just a few feet when his friend's voice made him pause._

_"Daniel, whatever it is, whatever happened between you and Carter, it'll be okay."_

_Saying nothing, Daniel continued on his way._

Thinking about his friend's words, Daniel hoped that Jack was right.

The archeologist turned around and looked at the ruins that sat about half a mile away. There were several others in the area all around the Stargate, but these particular ruins, perched as they were on the top of a mountain, had especially piqued his interest. Sometime during the long, sleepless night he had decided to go see them. He admitted to himself that he'd also chosen to come here instead of one of the other places because he knew that the extreme physical activity would keep his mind off Sam.

Daniel knew that he was being a coward by running away, even if it was just a temporary escape. But he just couldn't face her, not until he had come to terms with the loss of his hope and the knowledge that she would never love him the way he loved her. He should never have let himself hope for such a thing in the first place. It had been foolish and stupid. Well, at least he now knew where things stood with Sam. He could put the dream of being with her out of his head and work on accepting his role in her life as just her friend and teammate. He could do it. He had to. He wasn't willing to lose her friendship, too.

But, God, did it ever hurt.

Readjusting the pack on his back, the archeologist headed for the ruins. He had made pretty good time today and should have a little time to explore before making camp. Fortunately, the days on this planet were longer than on Earth, otherwise, he'd never have made it here before dark. He would spend all day tomorrow here, then head back the next morning. Many people would think it silly to go all that distance just to spend a little over one day at their destination, and, under other circumstances, Daniel would have wanted more time here, but, this time, it had been the journey rather than the destination that mattered to him. He had just needed to get away. The ruins were simply a place for which to aim.

There was still a couple of hours of daylight left when Daniel arrived at the edge of the ruins. He picked out a place to set up camp, dumped his gear, gathered some firewood, then headed on into the ruins. Even from a distance, he'd been able to tell that this was another amusement park. It looked like this one might have been designed to take advantage of the winds blowing across the mountains. The remains of what appeared to be flying craft were all over the place. They had probably been attached to tethers and gave patrons rides up into the air.

Daniel had to wonder about a society that would use a planet as nothing more than a place to build amusement parks. Of course, he was only assuming that's all that was here. For all he knew, the remains of a city could be somewhere over those distant mountains, beyond the area that the UAV covered. The biggest mystery, why the place was abandoned, would likely never be answered.

The sun was sinking below the mountains when Daniel returned to camp. He started a fire and prepared his dinner. As he ate, he thought about how long it had been since he'd been all alone like this. After Sha're's death, he took several days off and spent some of them on a remote dig in South America. Actually, that wasn't completely accurate. The Incan ruins had been thoroughly explored years ago, and there were no other archeologists there at the time, no one there at all, in fact. The ruins were too remote for much tourist traffic, which was the reason Daniel had picked them. He spent his time there in solitary exploration of the ancient structures, trying to come to terms with the loss of his wife. Now, once again, he was attempting to move past the pain of losing the woman he loved, except that he hadn't really lost Sam. She was still alive and well. It was the death of his dream that he was mourning.

After finishing his meal, Daniel opened his journal and wrote down his thoughts about the ruins. He wrote nothing about Sam or what happened between them. That was too painful and personal for his field journal. Those thoughts would be reserved for his personal journal at home.

Tired from the long hike and the lack of sleep the previous night, Daniel went to bed early. There alone in his sleeping bag, completely isolated from everyone and everything, Daniel resolved that, by the time he rejoined his friends in two days, he would be ready to get on with his life and put out of his mind what he could never have.

* * *

The last three days had been utterly miserable for Daniel's teammates. Neither Jack nor Sam had been in any mood to enjoy what the planet had to offer, and Teal'c's mood hadn't been much better. The lack of Daniel's presence and the reason for it was bothering them all. Jack had been tempted to contact the archeologist several times a day to make sure he was okay, but, other than a single radio call yesterday afternoon, the colonel had curbed the urge. Daniel had responded to that one call briefly, assuring Jack that, yes, he was alive and all in one piece and, yes, he would be back before the sun set today. The sun was now getting low in the sky, and Jack was getting antsy.

The colonel glanced over at Sam in the distance. She had spent much of these three days alone by the lake, just staring out at the water. Whether or not she had come up with any solutions was something he didn't know. He hoped that she had, because SG-1 wouldn't be able to function if two of its members couldn't even talk to each other.

As for him, he was wishing that none of this had happened. In fact, he was heartily wishing that they hadn't even come to this planet. He had believed that it would be a good thing if Daniel told Sam about his feelings. The problem was that Jack hadn't really thought about what would happen if Sam gave Daniel the "I love you as a friend" speech, which was pretty much what she had done. Now, Daniel's heart was in pieces, and Sam was feeling miserable and guilty.

"I believe that Daniel Jackson is approaching."

Teal'c's announcement brought Jack out of his thoughts. He looked in the direction the Jaffa was facing and was rewarded a few seconds later with the sight of their friend. Jack studied the younger man as he drew closer. Though he was clearly far from happy, at least his face no longer looked like it was carved in stone. Most of the tension had left his body as well.

"Glad to have you back, Daniel," Jack said in greeting, deliberately keeping his tone light. "Find anything interesting on your trip?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact I did."

"Really? So, where exactly did you go?"

Daniel hesitated before replying, which told Jack that he wasn't going to like the answer. The archeologist turned and pointed his finger at something in the distance.

"You see that ridge over there, the one that's almost flat on top?"

"Yes?"

"That's where I went."

"You mean you climbed that?"

"Uh huh."

"Why?"

"Because there are ruins up there."

Jack stared at the younger man. "Daniel, did it ever occur to you that climbing a mountain all by yourself is dangerous?"

Daniel sighed. "Jack, people go out hiking alone all the time."

"Hiking? That's a _mountain_, Daniel, and any idiot will tell you that mountain climbing by yourself is not a smart thing to do."

"Jack, it isn't Mount Everest. It isn't even high enough to qualify as a mountain back home. Yes, it was a little steep, but not steep enough that I had any need for climbing gear. I've scaled mountains a lot higher and steeper than that in the past. Not all ruins are on flat, level plains, you know."

Jack was all set to object some more but abruptly decided against it. This was not the kind of welcome Daniel should be getting. Besides, the archeologist had made it back safely despite the fact that he'd been climbing mountains all alone. However, Jack _was_ going to lay down the law.

"All right, Daniel, but let's make one thing clear. If you ever in the future make plans to do any solo mountain climbing, you're going to tell me beforehand so that I know where to send Search and Rescue if something happens to you, which, by the way, I wouldn't have been able to do this time anyway since we're not on Earth!"

That last statement shut the linguist up. Jack did have a point. If Daniel had fallen and gotten hurt, they couldn't have sent helicopters and search planes out looking for him, just one lone UAV.

"All right, next time I'll tell you," he said.

"Good."

Just then, Sam returned from the lake. Jack saw an expression of longing and sorrow pass across Daniel's features before he looked away from her. When his gaze returned to her after a few seconds, his face was schooled into a calm mask.

Sam had stopped in her tracks and was looking at Daniel, her expression showing a mixture of sadness and discomfort. She, too, wiped the emotions from her face and came forward.

"It's good to have you back, Daniel," she said sincerely. "We've missed you."

Daniel searched her eyes for a moment, then nodded. He then turned to Jack.

"So, um, I guess it's my turn to cook," he said.

"Nah, you just sit down and relax. The rest of us weren't climbing mountains today."

"Mountains?" Sam repeated questioningly.

"Yeah. Why don't you ask Edmund Hillary here where he's been for the last three days."

"Who is Edmund Hillary?" Teal'c asked.

Daniel sighed loudly. "The first man to scale Mount Everest."

Sam's eyebrows had risen. "Daniel, where exactly did you go?"

"Remember the ruins the UAV showed perched on top of that ridge?"

Sam's eyes widened. "You went there? Alone?"

Daniel groaned. "Don't you start in on that, too. I've already gotten an earful from Jack."

Sam wanted to say more but chose not to since she didn't want to make Daniel mad. But she had to wonder what had possessed him to pick the most inaccessible ruins for fifty miles around. He could very easily have gotten hurt or killed scaling that ridge alone.

A terrible thought chilled Sam. Daniel couldn't have chosen to do something so dangerous because of her, could he? No, that wasn't possible. Daniel wasn't the kind of man to do something like that. He was not in any way, shape or form suicidal. Just the thought of it left a sour taste in Sam's mouth and a sick feeling in her stomach.

During dinner, Daniel told them a little about what he found in the mountain ruins. He tried very hard to act normally, as if nothing was wrong, but he knew that his teammates could see through the act. Sam was very quiet throughout the meal and only asked Daniel a couple of questions. Every once in a while, he caught her staring at him, an expression on her face that he couldn't read. They never met each other's eyes for very long. Daniel knew that they still needed to talk, but it was not a conversation he was looking forward to having.

Jack watched his two youngest teammates, not very happy about what he was seeing. He could tell that they were both attempting to put everything back to the way it was before, but, compared to how animated they had been the first two nights on this planet, their demeanor was very noticeably subdued. Daniel didn't launch into any theories or discussions on the people who built the ruins, and Sam hardly talked at all. Jack was glad that they were heading back to Earth tomorrow.

After dinner, the archeologist disappeared again, only, this time, he just went to the lake. After a few minutes, when it became clear that Sam wasn't going to go talk to him, Jack went.

"I'm sorry, Daniel," were the first words out of his mouth. "Carter told me what happened. I'm sorry things turned out like they did."

Daniel did not turn to him, his eyes staying on the lake. His voice was full of pain when he spoke. "I really wanted it, you know."

"I know." Jack felt like he had to give his friend at least some hope. "Daniel, maybe Carter will—"

"Please don't say it, Jack," Daniel pleaded, tears in his voice. "Please don't say that maybe Sam will change her mind and come to love me, too. I-I just can't hope anymore. It hurts too much when my hopes are lost."

"Ah, God, Danny," Jack rasped. He pulled Daniel into his arms and held on as his best friend cried. He knew that these tears were for more than Daniel's lost hopes about Sam. They were for Sha're, and Shifu, and his parents, and Abydos, and every shattered hope and dream that Daniel had suffered in a life that had seen way too much sorrow and disappointment. It seemed like he had been cursed to never find lasting happiness in his life, though he, of all people, deserved to have it.

Daniel held onto Jack as the tears kept coming and coming. He was powerless to stop them. The dam of his emotions had finally crumbled, and he was being washed away by the flood. He knew that he should suck it up and accept the truth, but, right now, he just couldn't. And so he cried, letting Jack hold him.

It was a long time before Daniel's tears finally stopped. He pulled away from Jack and wiped his face self-consciously. Even though he knew that his friend understood, he still felt embarrassed by his emotional display. He glanced at Jack. The look of anguish on the man's face made Daniel realize that Jack was suffering right along with him, sharing his pain.

"It'll be okay, Jack," Daniel told his friend, though his voice didn't sound all that convincing to his own ears. "I survived Sha're's death and moved on. I can move on from this, too."

Jack rested a hand on the archeologist's shoulder. "I know you can, Daniel. I just wish you didn't have to."

Daniel smiled through the tears that were still burning in his eyes. "Me too." He cleared the lump from his throat. "I'll, um, be back in a little while, okay? I'm just going to stay here for a bit."

"Okay."

Jack gave his shoulder a squeeze, then headed back to camp. He sat at the fire, staring into it fiercely. The feeling of eyes upon him made him look up. Sam was standing a few feet away, staring at something on his shoulder. He looked down and saw a wet patch there. His eyes lifted to Sam's. She looked stricken, and he had no doubt that she knew how that wet patch got on his shoulder. Good. It was only right that she feel some pain, too.

Jack was shocked by that thought. He would never have thought that he could in any way be vindictive toward Sam. It's just that it was tearing him up inside to see Daniel in such pain, and, as always, he was angry at the person responsible for it. But he really shouldn't be. It wasn't her fault that she didn't love Daniel. You either loved someone like that or you didn't. No one was master of their own heart. He just couldn't help but think that, if she would let herself consider the idea, she could fall in love with Daniel. The groundwork was already there. She loved him as a friend, and she apparently had a strong physical attraction to him. How much more would it take for her to fall all the way? Maybe if he. . . . Jack shook his head mentally. No. He'd already said and done all that he should. If it was possible for Sam to fall in love with Daniel, she had to do it on her own. There was nothing that Jack or anyone else could do or say to make it happen.

Sam turned away and went into her tent, feeling like the lowest kind of slime that ever crawled upon the Earth. The patch of wetness on the colonel's shoulder, wetness that she knew was caused by Daniel's tears, might as well have been his blood. She felt like she had stabbed Daniel in the heart. If only there was something she could do, something she could say that would make him feel better. But what words would help except for the ones she couldn't speak? She just didn't know.

* * *

The next morning, Daniel went off to the ruins by the lake alone, still unable to be in Sam's presence without it hurting too much. Both Jack and Teal'c had offered to go with him, but Daniel preferred to be by himself. Every time in the past when grief came into his life, he had sought solitude, and this time was no different. In a few days, he'd be ready for their company again. Until then, he'd stay away from everyone as much as possible.

Daniel was now wishing that he'd taken off the additional week that Janet had wanted him to take. Of course, he couldn't have spent it here. He wanted to get off this planet as soon as possible. He had been tempted to ask if they could leave this morning, but then General Hammond and everyone else would have wanted to know why they cut their vacation short. No, he'd just stay here in the ruins and video tape some of the text for later study and possible translation. That would keep his mind off Sam and everything else. Daniel didn't really believe that, but he could hope.

* * *

Jack had gone off somewhere. Sam didn't know where, just that he hadn't had his fishing rod with him. Teal'c had begun to break camp even though they wouldn't be leaving for several more hours. As for Sam, she was sitting by the dead fire, miserably staring into the ashes. She was unaware when, after a while, Teal'c came up beside her.

"You do not love Daniel Jackson as he loves you," said the Jaffa's quiet voice.

Though she should feel appalled that her private feelings were a subject of conversation among her male team members, Sam was just too heartsick to care.

"I do love him, Teal'c," she told him, beginning to cry. "I love him as a friend, my _best_ friend. He means so much to me. But I don't think that I'm _in_ love with him, not the way he is with me."

"You are not certain?"

"No, I am certain. It's just that I have . . . feelings for him that aren't things you're supposed to have for someone who is just a friend. I don't know how much the colonel told you, but Daniel and I almost made love, and it was great, but I can't help but think that it was just a product of lust, physical attraction. I've been attracted to him for a while now, and I've had thoughts about. . . ." Sam stopped, too embarrassed to continue.

Teal'c sat beside her. "When I first met Drey'auc, her beauty and fire stirred me into wanting her," he said frankly. "I did not fall in love with her immediately. In truth, it was not until after we had become lovers that I came to love her, though I had great fondness for her before then. Sometimes, we cannot be certain of our own hearts until after we have come to know someone in every way."

"So, what are you saying, that I should have sex with Daniel and see if I fall in love with him afterwards?" Sam asked a little angrily.

"No, Major Carter. I am only saying that more time in Daniel Jackson's presence may reveal to you the truth of your feelings for him."

Sam turned her face away. "I'm not certain I'll ever get the chance. I'm afraid that I've ruined our friendship, that we'll never be close again."

"Daniel Jackson may love you as a man now, Samantha, but he loved you as a friend first."

Surprised at the use of her given name, Sam looked at Teal'c, who continued speaking.

"You have told me that you love him as a friend. That is a love that is shared by both of you. You and he must let that love heal this rift between you. It is the only thing that can."

Sam's gaze drifted away from the Jaffa, thinking about what he had just said. She realized all at once that he was right. She and Daniel loved each other as friends, and that love should be strong enough to get them past this.

A powerful sense of determination filled the major. Rising to her feet, she took a step toward the ruins. She paused and looked back at the Jaffa. "Thank you, Teal'c," she said, then hurried off to find Daniel. It took nearly two hours to locate him. When she finally spotted him, she halted, gripped by a sudden fear. How was she going to do this?

_'He's your best friend, Sam,'_ she told herself. _'You love him. Just remember that.'_

Taking a deep breath, Sam walked up to Daniel. He was busy jotting something down in his journal and was apparently unaware of her approach, though she had to wonder how that was possible given his ability to sense people's presences.

"Daniel?"

The archeologist started violently. Wide-eyed, he looked up at her. He then scrambled to his feet.

"Sam! I-I didn't feel . . . hear you coming."

Though he was standing right in front of her, Sam could sense Daniel withdrawing from her, pulling into his shell, and it broke her heart. It shouldn't be like this between them.

"Daniel, I . . . we need to talk."

The linguist's gaze dropped to the ground.

"I'm so sorry I hurt you," she continued. "That's the last thing in the world I'd ever want to do. You have to know that. I care about you so much, and it's killing me to think that I'm losing your friendship. I don't want to lose it. Please don't take it away from me."

Sam was sobbing by the time she spoke the last sentence. She hid her face in her hands. A moment later, a pair of arms came around her and pulled her into the warm, solid, familiar strength of Daniel's body. She wrapped her arms around his waist and held on as if her life depended on it.

"Don't cry, Sam," Daniel murmured against her hair. "I'm still your friend. I'll always be your friend, no matter what. I'm sorry I hurt you, too. It'll be okay. _I'll_ be okay. Nothing has to change."

The two friends held onto each other tightly for several minutes. For the first time since this whole thing began, Daniel knew with certainty that things _were_ going to be okay. Yes, the knowledge that Sam didn't love him the same way he loved her still hurt terribly, but the fact that he still had her as a friend was far more important to him. As long as he had that, he could handle everything else.

Daniel and Sam finally drew away from each other a little. He wiped the tears from her face, giving her a tender smile.

"Daniel, I don't know what's going to happen in the future," she said. "I just know that, right now, I'm not prepared to . . . to have a relationship with you other than what we already have."

"I know, Sam. I won't ever ask for more than that from you."

"But that doesn't mean that won't ever change."

Daniel felt a tiny flame of hope blossom inside his heart. He quickly extinguished it. He could not let himself hope again, not even a little bit. He had to just be happy with what he had with Sam now and not dream of anything more.

Withdrawing completely from her arms before the close contact could stir unwanted feelings inside him, he picked up his journal, which had fallen to the ground. He brushed the dirt from it.

"So, what have you been doing?" Sam asked, the light tone in her voice a little forced.

"Oh, I've just been getting some of these writing samples on video and making some notes. I'm hoping that, eventually, I'll be able to translate the language, though most of what is written here is probably just talking about the rides and other attractions, maybe some advertisements. But there is a chance that the name of whatever planet these people came from is mentioned somewhere."

"So, you're pretty sure that your theory about this being a pleasure planet is correct?"

"Not a hundred percent." He smiled a little. "Maybe it's just a pleasure _continent_ or maybe a pleasure island. We really don't know how big this land mass is."

Sam smiled. "Hmm. Pleasure Continent. I wonder if Walt Disney would have approved."

Daniel's smile grew. "I don't even want to _think_ about what he would have done with an entire continent to build a theme park on, let _alone_ an entire planet."

Sam burst into giggles, something Daniel had never heard before.

"What?" he asked.

"Oh, I just got this image in my mind of the aliens who built this place – if they _were_ aliens, that is – meeting Mickey Mouse."

Daniel started laughing, and Sam joined in. It felt good to laugh with her, to feel the foundation of their friendship once again solid beneath their feet. Daniel knew that he would love Sam for the rest of his life, but, if this was all he could ever have with her, it would be enough.

* * *

The following is in reply to one of the reviews I got. Since this is a Daniel/Sam Ship story, the focus is sometimes going to be on Daniel and Sam's relationship. These past three chapters have been the biggest example of that so far. Though the primary focus will be returning to other things for a while, there are going to be more times in this series when Daniel and Sam's growing relationship will take "center stage." This will be especially true when the two of them finally get together. For those of you who'd prefer not to read the scenes heavy with Ship, I'd recommend that you read the Gen version instead, which has no Ship at all. Though it is lacking some pretty big scenes and plot developments that are present in the Ship version, the main story of Daniel's abilities and how they affect the events of the 7th and 8th seasons is the same.

Oh, and, by the way, for those of you who read the Teen version instead of the Mature version of the love scene in Chapter 10, Daniel and Sam didn't have sex in the Mature version either. 


	12. Chapter 12

CHAPTER TWELVE

Daniel and Sam spent the next couple of hours together in the ruins. The growling of their stomachs finally reminded both of them that they didn't eat any lunch. Since Daniel hadn't packed anything to eat except a couple of power bars, they returned to camp.

To say that Jack was shocked by the way they were acting when they arrived would be an understatement. He had spent all morning and half the afternoon trying to figure out how he was going to repair the rift between the two. He had even considered locking them in a room alone together until they worked things out. Of course, that had been followed by the obvious question of how you could keep a man who could blow a door off its hinges in a room against his will.

Now, looking at the two scientists, it appeared that Jack wouldn't have to do a thing. They were smiling at each other and seemed at ease. Clearly, something had happened between them to change things for the better. As soon as he could get Daniel alone, he'd have to ask what went on.

Seeing the two scientists fixing themselves something to eat made Jack realize that he hadn't eaten either. "Mind if I join you?" he asked them.

"Not at all, sir," Sam replied, giving him the first smile he'd seen in nearly four days. Also seeing the difference in his two youngest teammates, Teal'c smiled inwardly and joined the others in a late lunch.

After they were done eating, the four decided to spend their last few hours on the planet together. Much to Jack's delight, Daniel agreed to go fishing with him. What delighted him even more was that the archeologist gave Sam a rudimentary fishing lesson, and she joined them. Even Teal'c agreed to again try fishing with a rod rather than a spear, though he'd had a great deal more success with the spear, his fast reflexes, infinite patience, and ability to remain absolutely still for hours making him a natural spear fisherman.

And so it was that the four friends lined up along the bank of the lake and went fishing. Sam was as excited as a little kid when she got her first bite and managed to land it all by herself with lots of shouted coaching from both Jack and Daniel. The three humans were all amused when Teal'c displayed his own version of Jaffa excitement as he landed his first real fish caught with a rod. Sam and Teal'c each caught one more fish before the day was out. Jack was pleased with the three he caught. Out of all of them, however, it was Daniel who really struck it rich, landing five beautiful specimens. The problem was that he released every one of them, much to Jack's dismay.

"We've already got enough fish, Jack," the archeologist told him after he'd released his final catch.

"But we could have stuck them in the freezer for later," the colonel complained.

Daniel looked at him, a tiny hint of a smile on his lips. "I'll tell you what. The next time we go fishing, I won't release the ones I catch."

Jack's face lit up. "Next time?"

"Uh huh."

Grinning broadly, Jack slapped Daniel on the back. "It's a deal."

"But remember, Jack. In order for me to catch fish, there has to _be_ fish to catch."

"Got it covered, Daniel. I know just the place."

The sun was just a few inches above the horizon as they loaded the last of the gear onto the FRED and headed for the Stargate. It would be mid-afternoon in Colorado when they arrived, meaning that it would be a very long day for all of them.

As they exited the Stargate back on Earth, General Hammond came forward with a smile. "Welcome back, SG-1. I hope you enjoyed your leave."

Jack glanced at Daniel and Sam. "Oh, we all had quite the time, General. It was certainly a vacation I'll never forget."

"Glad to hear it. Now, I know that this is the last thing you want to do after returning from vacation, but you will all need to report to the infirmary. You may not have been on a mission, but you _were_ on another planet."

"Understood, sir. Oh, by the way, we brought back some fish for you. That was one sweet lake, sir."

Hammond smiled. "Well, thank you, Colonel. I'm looking forward to hearing all about it. You know, I was quite the avid fisherman in my youth."

A smile started growing across Jack's face. "You were?"

"Yes, I was. I spent many an enjoyable hour on this little stream not far from where I grew up in Texas."

"Really. Say, sir. Have you ever been to Minnesota?"

Two and a half hours later, Daniel was at home, dozing on his couch. He hadn't slept well for the past four nights, and it was really catching up to him. He was seriously considering forgetting about dinner and going straight to bed. A knock on his door told him that wouldn't be happening. Knowing that it was Jack, Daniel answered it. Sure enough, a pizza-laden Jack O'Neill was on the other side.

"What, no fish?" Daniel asked him.

"No, but if I had known that you wanted fish, I'd have had them put anchovies on the pizza."

Daniel grimaced. "No thanks." He stepped aside to let the colonel enter. Jack set the pizza down on the kitchen counter, along with a six-pack of beer. Daniel got some paper plates and started dishing out his pizza. He had a pretty good idea why his friend was here, and he wanted to put off the conversation as long as possible.

As it turned out, he was only able to delay the conversation for fifteen minutes. He wasn't even finished eating when Jack asked the question.

"So, what happened between you and Carter today?"

"We talked and both agreed that we didn't want our friendship to be ruined."

"That's it? You talked?"

"Well, no. I guess you could say that we hugged and made up. I told Sam that nothing had to change, that we could stay the same as we were before."

Jack watched him closely. "And do you think that you'll be able to do that? Will you be able to put your feelings for her on a shelf and keep being just her friend?"

Daniel returned the sharp gaze. "You did."

"Yes, your right, I did. The difference was, however, that I really didn't have a choice because of regulations. I wasn't willing to risk my career. You don't have that motivation."

"No, but I have one that's just as strong, maybe even stronger."

"What's that?"

"Sam's friendship. It's one of the most important things in my life. I'd rather give up my job at the SGC than lose it."

Daniel's statement made Jack think about something. All those years that he'd had feelings for Sam, he had never thought about leaving the military for the chance to be with her, at least no longer than brief moments now and then. So, what did that mean? It meant that his love for Sam had never been strong enough to outweigh his love for the Air Force.

A question entered Jack's mind. "Would you give up your place on SG-1 to be with Sam?"

"In an instant," was the immediate reply.

The answer confirmed to Jack that Daniel loved Sam with every part of his heart, something that Jack had never felt for her.

The two men fell silent after that. They finished their pizza and beer, then watched a bit of TV. When Daniel started falling asleep on the couch, Jack knew it was time to leave.

"Daniel, I know that you don't want to let yourself hope again," the colonel said as they stood at the door, "but even a little bit of hope can make things easier to bear. Don't completely give up on your dream. I still honestly believe that you have a chance."

Daniel watched Jack walk to his car, get in, and drive away. He shut the door and headed off to his bedroom. As he lay down on the bed a few minutes later, deep inside his heart, a tiny flame of hope flickered to life.

* * *

The next day, a call came through from the Tok'ra. A moment later, Jacob arrived, an expression of concern on his face.

"We need to talk," he told Hammond and SG-1.

A short while later, they were all in the briefing room.

"We may have a problem," the Tok'ra said. "As you already know, word of Daniel's abilities have been spreading among the rebel Jaffa. It was really nothing big at first, though it was big enough to cause a stir. Well, all that changed when Daniel chose to play catch with a Stargate. The Jaffa at the Alpha Site found out about it and everything else, and it all got added to the stuff that was already being circulated."

Daniel looked down at the table uncomfortably. He was already well aware that the Jaffa knew all about the things he'd done. He had spent hours talking with them, trying to make them see that he was nothing more than a man.

"And?" Jack asked.

"And, as of now, we've officially got a major wildfire going. News of this new and immensely powerful ally of the Tau'ri and rebel Jaffa is growing by leaps and bounds, and it's igniting the spirit of the rebel Jaffa to new heights. The Tok'ra have never seen anything like it before." Jacob looked at all of them. "We had a major incident two days ago."

"What?" Daniel asked, almost afraid to find out.

"There was an uprising among the Jaffa in the service of Aker, a minor System Lord. He's dead."

Sam's mouth fell open. "His own Jaffa killed him?"

"They didn't just kill him, Sam. They tore him to pieces. There wasn't enough left of the symbiote to put in a teacup."

"My God," Daniel whispered, utterly stunned. "Why?"

"Aker had just mounted a battle against another System Lord," Jacob explained. "When things got too hot, he fled, leaving his Jaffa to die. Normally, the Jaffa would have accepted this as the will of their god, but things are changing since they heard about you. Not only are you being hailed as a godlike being, every Jaffa who has been told about you has also been told that you are a trusted friend to all Jaffa who rebel against the Goa'uld, that you treat them with absolute respect, value their lives greatly, and will courageously fight at their side no matter what the danger. That's something no Goa'uld can claim."

Daniel lowered his head into his hands. "Crap," he muttered, realizing that his attempts to minimize his image in the minds of the Jaffa had seriously backfired.

"When Aker ran like a coward with no regard for the lives of his Jaffa, it was the last straw for many of them. They killed him in your name," Jacob finished.

Daniel was starting to feel physically ill. This was not what he wanted. He didn't want Jaffa slaughtering Goa'uld in his name.

"Whoa, wait a second," Jack said. "In Daniel's name? You mean all the Jaffa know Daniel's identity?"

A chill passed through the archeologist and all of his teammates, as well as Hammond.

"Do they, Dad?" Sam asked in a scared voice.

"That's the one piece of good news I have," Jacob replied. "It seems that someone has given Daniel an alias. Very few Jaffa know his real name."

"Alias? What alias?" Daniel questioned.

"You're being called Dan'yar."

"Dan'yar, huh?" Jack mused. "Kind of has a nice ring to it."

"Well, that alias is probably the only thing saving him and the rest of you from a whole lot of trouble. Not surprisingly, all of the System Lords have found out about this mysterious Dan'yar and are trying to learn more about him."

"Crap." This time it was Jack who had spoken the curse.

"I agree. All we can hope is that they don't find out the truth. If they do, Daniel is going to be instantly catapulted to the top of the Goa'ulds' Most Wanted list."

Jack groaned. "Oh, this is _so_ not good."

"The biggest fear is that Anubis will find out. We can't get a Tok'ra operative close to him, so we're in the dark as to how much he knows, though there is no doubt that he's heard of Dan'yar."

"What are we going to do?" Sam asked.

"Nothing for now. The Tok'ra have placed as many spies as they can afford among the ranks of the most important System Lords and are keeping their ears to the ground. Hopefully, if someone does learn of Daniel's identity, we'll find out in time to get him to safety."

"Where in the hell would he be safe with every Goa'uld in the galaxy after him?" Jack wanted to know.

"That's a good question," Jacob admitted. "Perhaps with the Asgard or the Nox?"

"I'm not going to hide," Daniel stated.

"Daniel, you may have no choice," Sam told him.

Daniel's eyes met hers. "For how long, Sam? Until all the Goa'uld are defeated? That could take years. We might not even see that happen in our lifetimes. I can't just go disappear among the Asgard or the Nox for the rest of my life."

"Better that than being dead," Jack snapped. "Or, worse, being made a Goa'uld."

Dead silence fell over everyone.

"I'm also here about the weapon we've been developing," Jacob said after a moment. "We've got a working prototype, but it's only seventy percent effective at counteracting the reanimation technology."

"Seventy percent?" Sam repeated. "We have to be able to do better than that."

"I agree. Unfortunately, we're having trouble increasing its effectiveness. The truth is that this prototype should have been completed weeks ago. There have been a number of delays in its development, one of which is that I've got a lot fewer Tok'ra working with me on the project than I'm supposed to have because our numbers are spread thinner than ever due to this stuff with Daniel and the Jaffa."

"So, it's my fault," Daniel muttered.

Jacob looked at him with a fatherly expression. "No, Daniel. This isn't your fault. None of us could have anticipated that this was going to happen. You asked the Jaffa not to tell anyone about you, but it happened anyway. And, after that incident with the Stargate, I doubt that anyone could have stopped the word from spreading. It happened. Now, we just have to deal with it."

"Dad, maybe I can help with the prototype," Sam suggested. "Perhaps you just need a new pair of eyes looking at the thing."

Jacob smiled. "I'd welcome your help, Sam."

An hour later, the astrophysicist was quickly gathering what she thought she'd need, trying to keep her mind focused on it and not on what they'd learned about the possible danger to Daniel. It wasn't easy, though. The threat was very real and very high. If the Goa'uld did learn the true identity of "Dan'yar," would they consider breaking the Asgard treaty and attack Earth to get him? Anubis had already attacked Earth twice. The knowledge of Daniel's abilities could be enough to drive some other Goa'uld into chancing the wrath of the Asgard. For the sake of Earth, Daniel would probably have no choice but to leave the planet.

"Need some help?" asked a quiet voice from the doorway. Sam turned to see the object of her thoughts standing there.

"Um . . . yeah. Thanks."

Daniel came into the room. "Tell me what to do."

"Uh, well, you can pack some of these things in that crate." Sam gestured at the equipment on her worktable.

Daniel immediately got busy carefully packing stuff in the crate, his long-fingered hands handling each item with the same care he showed toward his precious artifacts. Sam found herself watching him. All at once, a sharp pain seared through her chest at the thought of him dead at the hands of the Goa'uld.

She must have made some small noise because Daniel looked up at her. He quickly stood.

"Sam? What's wrong?"

She looked into his eyes. "I'm afraid that the Goa'uld are going to find out about you."

Daniel covered the distance between them. He wanted to wrap his arms around her but chose instead to take her hand. "I am, too," he admitted. His eyes fell to the floor. "It might be best if I left Earth now. My presence here is a danger to everyone."

Sam gripped his hand painfully. "No! You can't leave now. We don't know for sure that they'll find out, and, if they do, it might not be for weeks or even months. In that time anything could happen. We might find a way to defeat the Goa'uld. We're so close to having a weapon that will defeat Anubis' armies. You can't leave, Daniel. We need you." She paused for a long moment. "_I_ need you."

Daniel's eyes caught hers in an intense gaze. "I love you, Sam," he said, his voice as intense as his gaze. "I will do anything to protect you. That includes leaving and never seeing you again."

"Daniel, please," Sam begged. "Please promise me that you'll still be here when I get back."

Daniel stared into her eyes for a breathless moment. "I promise, Sam." Not able to contain himself any longer, he wrapped his arms around her, burying his face in her hair. Sam held onto him tightly, soaking in the feeling of him being close to her and wondering if this would be one of the last hugs they'd ever share.

After a moment, they drew away from each other and resumed gathering and packing equipment. Soon, everything was ready to go. Two men came and took the crate to the gate room. Sam then turned her attention to packing several changes of clothes since she had no idea how long she'd be gone. Daniel gave her privacy for that, for which she was glad. She needed to be in complete control of her emotions before she got to the gate room, and being in Daniel's presence would make that impossible.

Her father was waiting for her in the gate room when she arrived. Seeing her face, he frowned.

"You okay, kiddo?"

Sam nodded. "Yeah, Dad. I'm fine."

Jacob looked at her sympathetically. "I'm worried about him, too, you know."

Not surprised that her dad had guessed the reason for her distress, Sam gave him a weak smile.

The rest of SG-1 came in to wish them goodbye. Sam's eyes went straight to Daniel. The archeologist returned her gaze. Within the man's eyes, Jacob saw something that confirmed a guess he had made not all that long ago about the feelings the archeologist had for Sam. One part of Jacob was delighted by the development since he couldn't think of anyone he'd rather see with his daughter than this man. Another part was deeply worried. What would it do to Sam if something happened to Daniel or if he was forced to leave Earth?

Jacob turned to his daughter to see if he could detect the same thing there, but she was now looking at Jack, who had come up to them.

"So, how long are you going to be gone, Carter?" the colonel asked.

"I don't know, sir," Sam replied. "There's no way to tell yet."

"Well, try not to make it too long. I'm beginning to forget what it's like to go on missions. We are SG-1, after all."

Sam smiled faintly. "I'll try to be as quick as I can, sir."

The Stargate activated, and everyone turned to it.

"We'll keep in touch," Jacob said. "As soon as we have a fully functional prototype, we're going to get busy manufacturing it. That's where the SGC is going to be a big help. You've got a lot more resources for that than the Tok'ra do."

"Don't worry, Jacob. We'll have those things cranking off the assembly line in no time," Jack said.

"Take care, Sam," Daniel said quietly.

"You too, Daniel," she responded. Then she turned and, along with her father, walked through the Stargate.

* * *

Anubis sat brooding on his throne. The more time that passed, the more he heard about this mysterious ally of the Tau'ri and the rapidly growing Jaffa rebellion. Since first hearing about the man, he had been attempting to learn more about this Dan'yar, turning most of his attention to it. The information he had managed to get was most disturbing. The power Dan'yar possessed was like that of an ascended being. Yet how could he be one of the Ascended? If one of them so blatantly defied the rules of the Ancients, they would be punished. They would not be permitted to continue.

Anubis had never quite understood the motivations of the Ancients and the reason for their insistence on not interfering in the affairs of mortals. Deep down inside he had wondered if they had some sort of ultimate plan. Now, Anubis was wondering if Dan'yar was part of that plan. Could he be one of the Ascended after all, perhaps even one of the Ancients themselves?

Anubis knew that, if the Ascended chose to actively work against the Goa'uld, that would be the end for all of them, including himself. Though they could not destroy him, they could defeat him.

There was, however, another possibility. This Dan'yar might simply be a mortal who had somehow developed extraordinary power. If that was the case, he must be eliminated. He was far too dangerous to be allowed to live.

Recently, another concern had come to Anubis' attention. There was a rumor that the Tau'ri and the Tok'ra were developing a weapon that could destroy his drones. This was an even bigger threat than Dan'yar, one that he must eliminate quickly.

Anubis' armies had just gained a major victory against the System Lord Olokun. There was a chance that there were some rebel Jaffa among those taken prisoner, or maybe even a Tok'ra operative. If so, they might be able to give him the information he needed about this new weapon . . . and perhaps about Dan'yar as well.

To be continued.


End file.
